RWBY Plays: R Modern Warfare
by BlueDemonofFire
Summary: In an attempt to bring the team together a little, Yang decides the team should watch Ruby play a first person shooter. However, since she herself isn't familiar with it, certain aspects will catch 'all' of them off guard. This isn't the first fic with the idea of watching the girls play through a game, but still, I hope I manage to make it interesting enough for you all.
1. Chapter 1

RWBY Plays: R Modern Warfare

Author's note: Well, having a good deal of trouble finding inspiration for Heart of the Scythe. The combination of Yang being difficult for me to write for and various troubles going on in my life just mean I need to put the story on hold indefinitely. Of course, in a random browsing of the RWBY fanfic section, I saw a number of LP related fics and thought to myself, hey, I do a number of LPs. I've got footage still on my computer of a few games that team RWBY would certainly find interesting. I can watch that footage plus some stuff on Youtube to help myself make an LP fic of my own. Then I rediscovered the Weiss Reacts fic, and thought "Hey, this was pretty fun to read and trying to do something remotely similar would probably be fun to do." Granted, it's probably not going to be as light hearted as Weiss Reacts, but we'll see how that goes, and if it gives me any inspiration for other stories down the line.

As for my decision for the first game to be Ruby playing Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare? It's a twitch shooter, fast reflexes are paramount. And while Ruby's combat style revolves around speed, it's more a case of ripping through hordes of enemies with sheer momentum with the occasional high-caliber bullet mixed in. And since her semblance won't be able to help her do any better in a video game, she isn't going to be downright amazing at this game. There's also the fact that she believes in the whole "good guys always win" thing, and while there are a number of rough moments (three moments in particular will probably shake her up in this game), in the end, the bad guy is taken down and the day is saved at the end, so she'll probably appreciate that. Who knows, it might help improve how she fights as a whole, and the rest of her team watching might get a few ideas.

Not really sure when in the series this should take place. Maybe before the cat's out of the bag and Blake beats me to death with my own severed arms for making that obvious pun?

Disclaimer: Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare is the property of Infinity Ward and Activision. While I do not like the direction that series has gone, especially since Ghosts, I still respect what they had already released.

I also in no way own RWBY. Those rights belong to Rooster Teeth and the late, great Monty Oum.

* * *

Chapter 1: A Strange Idea is Better Than Nothing

Another Friday night, another week of school done, and what better way to catch your breath and gather your thoughts than just sitting in an empty bathroom stall? Ruby didn't know what made the weeks more exhausting. Changing mental gears every forty-five minutes to deal with entirely different teaching methods for all the various courses was easier said than done some days. Occasionally it was a case of her own enthusiasm for becoming a huntress and being in such an awesome team catching up with her, even her sugar-enhanced stamina wasn't unlimited. Then there was Weiss constantly pushing her to be better, sometimes appreciated but at times the way her partner went about it was like getting her skull pried open with a crowbar and her brain directly whacked with a rolled up notebook, occasionally with the metal spiraling thing catching bits of flesh.

Grimacing at the mental image she just gave herself, Ruby decided that yes, Weiss was starting to get on her nerves, and unlike a lot of other stress generators, the weekend wouldn't give her any time to breath. The curse of being a roommate to a workaholic who felt her leader should be 'better' than her, or at least try to be, in order to deserve that position. At least, that's what it felt like to Ruby, regardless of what Weiss might say on the subject. Maybe it'd be easier if she had a sense she'd earned her partner's respect. Maybe heard the silver haired girl say something like "Wow Ruby, you are awesome and I feel like a pile of Grimm poop for ever doubting you." Well, okay, not those 'exact' words, but something along those lines would be nice..but if she was on the road to gaining respect, she certainly wasn't seeing any progress. What she needed was some way to deal with the constantly building stress, but without making Weiss any more difficult to deal with..if that was possible.

Most of Ruby's usual methods of stress relief just plain didn't seem to work. Eating cookies? Weiss might complain about Ruby not eating healthy enough, or about leaving crumbs on the floor or something. Practicing with Crescent Rose? There was always the risk of imagining Weiss being on the other end of any of her attacks, which would make Ruby feel guilty for a while and 'really' not help blow off steam. Reading? Hm..she didn't really feel in the mood to pick up something new right now, and most of what she'd brought with her from home were old favorites that involved a great hero slaying a monster and getting the girl. Fun, but doubtful they'd do anything about the aggravating feelings in her gut. If she didn't find some way to deal with the pressure she felt, she'd either do something she might regret, or start actually feeling 'ill'. But since the options she could think of didn't feel quite right, Ruby took out her scroll and typed a message to her team.

[Feeling in the mood for a run. Anyone feel up for it?]

Well, there was little to no chance Weiss would take up that offer. While they hadn't been a team for long, if there was one thing Ruby had figured out about her partner it was that her workaholic nature involved mental exercises, not physical exertion. It wasn't really something she could complain about, though, so it couldn't hurt. Yang would probably figure out something was bugging Ruby and come along if only to check-up on her, even if the blond had different plans when the school week officially ended. She wasn't too sure how Blake would take that offer. Really, it was random what she would or wouldn't go along with, she was kind of hard to read. Wait, was that a pun? Was Yang somehow infecting her with..oh god, please no, she didn't want to throw around groan worthy jokes, then Weiss might 'literally' beat her over the head with a notebook! Wait, literal? Literally? Ugh.

Before she could slam her head against the stall door as self-punishment, her scroll rang out with two new messages. Let's see..one from Weiss telling her to get out of her school uniform before she went jogging. Typical, but understandable. It'd be less painful to be in sneakers than these..okay, so she didn't know what this kind of shoe was actually called. Was it worth looking up the actual name of it when she had a pair and could probably find new ones in a store if need be? Okay, her mind was really going in random directions now. Thankfully Yang sent a message saying she was up for an impromptu run. If she didn't have someone to talk to and bounce ideas off of, she'd probably do something ridiculously random like try to drink milk while standing on her head.

* * *

It was always surprisingly fun trying to keep pace with someone else. With Yang, sure, longer legs, longer strides, but her footfalls tended to be pretty heavy. If she wanted to, Ruby could easily outrun her without even having to use her semblance. But then, it'd be a little tough to hold a conversation when you're running laps around someone.

"..and I really, really want to relax in a way that Weiss won't just yell at me for slacking off, but she's like a landmine with multiple different sensors! Even when I do what I think she wants, I just don't feel like I'm really earning her respect, you know? It's like she only tolerates me."

Still, she had to stay at least a little bit ahead, if only so she could read Yang's face. Every time she'd ever run side by side with her, those breasts blocked too much of her view, and just thinking of running around with something that big made Ruby's chest hurt in sympathy.

Based on the smile on Yang's face, there was a bit of mischief going on in her head right now. "Why not change goals a bit?"

There was only one response for that. "Huh?"

And Yang's smile turned into a smirk. "Look, you're trying to earn her respect by letting her guide things along, so you're making it easier for her to judge you. And I think we've established by now she's a harsh critic who'd nitpick even someone who managed to do better than her if her brain could think of 'any' room for improvement. Hell, I think the only reason she doesn't nitpick 'Goodwitch' on her Dust usage is because, well, deputy head mistress. She's rough enough when you don't get on her bad side, and a student trying to critique Goodwitch..that's not going to end well. Ever."

"Uh huh."

"So, just plain relax and play a video game or something."

And just like that, Ruby felt any hope of Yang having a brilliant idea shatter. "Really? Play a game? I don't see how doing some random tower defense game online is going to help. Sure, it's a nice way to kill time, but..I don't think it's going to improve things with Weiss 'or' keep me from turning into a nervous wreck. It's just going to kill some time until Weiss gets annoyed with what I'm doing and starts yelling for me to turn off my scroll if that's all I'm going to do with it."

And the smirk grew wider somehow. "Whoever said anything about playing it on your scroll?"

For one small second, Ruby considered kicking her sister in the face. Three things stopped her, though. First and foremost, she was a 'horrible' fighter without Crescent Rose while Yang practically lived for fist fighting, and while Yang would probably hold back, she'd probably still bring some pain if she got kicked in the boobs or something. Secondly, it didn't feel like Yang was being a total troll. More like she seemed to know something Ruby didn't and didn't want to spoil the surprise. Third, Ruby had to admit she was curious where this was going.

"We don't have a computer or anything in our dorm room. Trust me, when we started making the bunk beds I had a pretty good look at what we did and didn't have."

It was almost amazing how Yang's face shifted to something both amused and hurt by Ruby's lack of confidence. "Are you saying I'm not connected enough to get absolutely anything?"

"..I thought we were talking about a video game, not anything alcoholic."

The way she almost tripped was a little surprising. Was she 'not' expecting Ruby to call her out on some questionable wording? Or was it that her reaction was more funny than expected? Hard to tell, her face was obscured by hair when she flailed there. "I mean I can get a console, a game you'd probably like, a screen to play it on..we'll figure out where to put it in our room later, but for now, we'll just borrow one of the lounge rooms. I'll convince Weiss and Blake to come along. Those two do the exact same thing over and over again every day, and watching you do something..relatively new might make them a bit more adventurous."

"I don't know..Blake brought a 'lot' of books, some of which are keeping you bed above hers, by the way."

"What if I make sure the first game has lots of guns and lots of shooting?"

Lots of guns..hm..they'd be virtual guns, and depending on the animation might not look that good, so as a bargaining chip, kind of iffy..still.."..I don't see how this will help, but..go ahead."

"Cool, you can go back to the dorm if you want, or keep running if you don't want to seem suspicious or something, I'll make a few calls and we're going to have a gaming night!"

Well, it would be a little ridiculous to get back to the dorm 'immediately'. Then again, it was even more ridiculous that Yang somehow thought playing a game in front of the others would do much of anything. Then again, most of her gaming experience were some random but fun bits from Touhou Project, a decent number of Sonic the Hedgehog games she managed to emulate on her home computer, and a bunch of flash games she could play on absolutely any device. Maybe this actually 'would' be something interesting.

* * *

Closing notes: So, that's all from me for now. Any thoughts? Opinions? I know this isn't the first LP related fic out there, but have I done anything in the opening chapter to catch your interests? I'll see when I can get the time to get the next chapter out and actually have the girls start experiencing the game.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Well, That's Certainly New

Blake had a small moment of curiosity when Ruby said she was going for a run earlier. It wasn't that it was 'completely' out of character, but in the small amount of time she'd known her hyperactive leader, taking a 'run' wasn't one of her usual ways to burn off excess energy. Practicing with her scythe, doing some comical reenactments of a movie she liked, doing various things to try breaking the multitude of barriers around her partner, those were far more common activities. Still, if one of the fastest people in Beacon wanted to run around the campus for a while, who was Blake to judge?

To be honest, Blake had the feeling that something needed to change. They worked reasonably well together in whatever school assigned team exercises came their way, but it that was partly because the team exercises felt..tentative. The teachers knew the students hadn't known eachother for long, so they weren't being particularly pushed in that area just yet. Still, whenever she looked at team JNPR, she felt almost..jealous. No, jealous wasn't really the right word for it. That implied she wanted to be on that team. What she wanted was for her team to start having some of the same dynamics.

Pyrrha had quickly become the team mom, for lack of a better way to put it. There was this underlying sense of euphoria around her, like she had found her little spot in heaven somehow didn't feel she'd earned it but didn't want to say anything since that might somehow wake her up and put her back in hell. She tried to spread her superior experience around as much as she could, visibly tutoring the rest of her team whenever she could. Sure, Jaune got most of her attention, but that seemed more because he needed a good deal more help.

Not to say Jaune was dragging his team down, though he probably felt like it at times. What he lacked in skill he made up for in passion. Where he had trouble grasping school related material, he easily understood people..which made his whole flirting with Weiss seem like such a big anomaly in Blake's eyes that she would almost think he was putting up a front, but why? And while he tended to fall into the role of stumbling goofball pretty frequently, there was something about him that just gave you the sense he'd sooner beat you over the head with his own severed limb than let his team down. The fact that he was actually a pretty talented leader in combat didn't hurt, either.

Nora was a big bundle of energy, and her off-the-wall antics gave the impression she had little to no restraint. But as unrestrained as she seemed, she picked and chose when and how to cross lines. She was smart enough to know what would actually hurt people, and what would at most annoy. It's like she made it a personal mission to spread as many smiles as she could, and she was surprisingly difficult to get a read on.

Then there was Ren. Like his childhood friend, he was difficult to really get a handle on. Most of his words in public were just little translations for Nora, bringing her stories back down to earth when she added various details or just clarifying something. But there were little things he did that showed he'd made a connection with his other teammates as well. A comforting shoulder pat here, always having a spare..'anything' whenever someone ran out of ink in their pen, or didn't bring any paper for that particular class. Whatever he was to team JNPR, it was behind closed doors that he probably shined.

It was hard not to see the potential simalarities in team dynamics whenever Blake observed JNPR, and it was hard not to think about all the annoying little things she wished were clicking between her teammates but weren't, at least not yet. Of course, her choice of current reading material probably wasn't helping. A story about a talented captain with a poor string of luck ending up stationed in a hellhole, having to deal with obstacles all around 'including' her less than cooperative crew. Kind of hard to avoid thinking of her problems when she was reading something that said "yeah, it could easily be a hell of a lot worse".

Well, it would be reading if she hadn't read it before. At most she was scanning words, remembering how the scenes went, turning pages at the right time in case anyone was paying attention to her, and stewing in her own thoughts. She didn't even remember when she gained the habit, much less why she was doing it when the only other person in the dorm with her was Weiss, and based on the way Weiss seemed to be mechanically looking over her notes for the day, the silver haired girl wouldn't notice if Blake just conked out for the night. Hm, seven pm seemed a bit early to fall asleep, though..still, maybe a nap would give her a better idea of what she wanted to do.

As if sensing she was putting her book away and about to change into her pajamas, her scroll went off. For half a second, Blake was a little confused. Yang and Ruby started their run less than ten minutes ago. But who else would be calling her now? One of the teachers? Why?

Grabbing her scroll, seeing it was something from Yang, she was once again caught off guard that it wasn't a text or a call, but a video message..she didn't even know you 'could' leave video messages without your call being missed or something. And it looked like it was sent to Ruby and Weiss as well. Wasn't Yang supposed to be out running with Ruby? Maybe it was a side effect of leaving the White Fang less than a month ago, but Blake herself tense up. Hopefully it wasn't noticeable when she said, "Since it's probably the same message, want to watch it on the same scroll?"

Weiss took a moment to compare the two scrolls to see if it was really the exact same message before saying, "Alright. It wouldn't make much sense for us to be watching the same thing out of sync."

And so they hit play on Weiss's scroll, and saw Yang standing just outside of Lounge Room 33.

["Hel-lo! Not too sure you want to go through the same routine for the third weekend in a row? Want to change things up without going wild out in town? Well, you're in luck! Because I've just managed to find us a little adventure to go through without having to even leave Beacon. For those of you who aren't Ruby, don't worry. You won't have to do anything other than watch when you get here. And just so you aren't coming 'completely' blind, here's a little taste of what's waiting for you here. Hope you like the trailer, 'cause we are probably going to 'love' the actual thing."]

Trailer? Were they going to watch a movie? No, wait, if it was a movie than why did she say Ruby had to do something when they got there? Yang and the familiar scenery faded to black, replaced by a bit of text in a box..hm, visit a website..content rated..strange, she wasn't familiar with an RP rating for anything.

["This game has not yet be rated."]

Ah, that explained it. Most of the games Blake was familiar with were point and click adventures, most of which were made by..ah, there it was, the StrangeReal Studios logo. Hm, and a logo she wasn't familiar with, for a group called Infinity Ward.

The screen shifted to a dark, stormy night with a strange looking aircraft passing by, almost prompting Blake chuckle out of reflex at that kind of cliché opening, then in a flash of lightning all she could see were intense, angry eyes. The sort of eyes she was all too used to seeing on her old friend and mentor Adam. Trying to keep any potential memories from flooding her mind, she focused more on what was actually going on on screen.

The camera dived into one of the intense man's eyes, to a scene with a small squad moving in a forested area with mountains in the background. Yet another of those strange aircraft was at the top right. It made Blake think of a Bullhead, only..no engine. At least, none with any visible jet flair and exhaust. She couldn't see 'how' it was staying in the air since it looked like a bulky hunk of metal with a tail.

The scene changed again, this time to a grassy area during the day, to a man wearing a suit with a lot of foliage attached to it. He gestured to the camera, his hand telling someone to follow him.

["Move."]

And the camera moved to show the man moving through the grass from two different angles before it switched to a greenish tint, and a new location. A man with a shotgun was kicking open a door. Cut to soldiers wearing all black and their faces obscured by some kind of gas masks running through a rainy ship. Blake couldn't keep her brain from sending a short but fast little montage of all the missions she'd ever went through with the Fang, but she could at least keep the turmoil from showing on her face.

Now she saw a small fleet of those aircraft, and based on the motion blur above them, apparently they were airborne because something was moving very rapidly above them. The rest of the trailer felt like a blur, various action scenes in a damaged city, the occasional moment of seeing a red flag with a pair of yellow..curved things. Were those supposed to be swords of some kind? Hard to tell, not a good angle. Then it cut to some kind of hatch opening..certainly plenty of smoke coming from in there.

A short cut to attacking dogs finally broke Blake's self control. Even if they 'were' just on a screen, even it 'only' lasted a second or two, that was still a very familiar breed, doing a very familiar thing. If Blake had still been holding her scroll, she would have dropped it. If Weiss wasn't so engrossed with what was going on on the screen, she might have asked about the short, high pitched noise Blake made or why her arms automatically rose to neck level before she regained herself.

As more scenes of gunfire and fighting in the city took place, Blake couldn't help wondering if Yang somehow knew, somehow suspected her past, or if this was just an innocent bit of unintentional torment. Between all the various action scenes, a bald man with a mustache and beard was handing a gun to a man wearing a red had, a tactical vest of some kind, and yellow rimmed glasses. At the minute ten mark, he cocked his gun at the camera, aimed, and fired right into it, making the screen a blinding white.

When the white cleared, all that could be seen were the ruins of the city..it looked like a hundred years had passed, and a desert had claimed what man once owned. Then several seconds of dramatic music, showing various scenes so fast Blake could barely register them all, and finally they exited the intense man's eye, and zoomed out enough to see his mustached face just before he put his gasmask on. As whoever the camera was seeing from reached for his own mask, two words rang out.

["Ready up."]

And finally the screen shifted to black again, and the words "Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare" popped up on screen. Whatever the voice said at the end was not in a language Blake understood, that was for sure.

So..Yang's idea of fun was the team watching Ruby play an action game of some kind that seemed pretty disconnected with what they were doing at Beacon right now. Really, Blake was a little torn. On one hand, it 'did' seem like an interesting story, and experiencing something like that with others would certainly be an interesting experience. On the other, just based on how she reacted to seeing masked people in black and a short bit with a pair of attack dogs..probably not the sort of thing she'd typically 'want' to see with other people around.

Since she couldn't really make the decision for herself, Blake figured Weiss should be the one to decide. "So, think we should go to Lounge 33? Go along with it for a bit?"

Weiss turned to look at her notes, probably thinking she should do something more productive..but then again, given how good her memory tended to be, looking over her own notes some more probably wouldn't improve her grasp on the class material that much. Then she looked at her scroll again, moving the timer to the ruined city at around 1:17 before saying, "It's probably a waste of time, but..I can't deny I'm..curious. Lounge 33 it is."

* * *

Closing notes: Well, part of me wanted to put both the trailer and the intro before the game begins in this chapter, but then I decided it's probably best if we mostly take Ruby's perspective when they're actually going through the game. She is, after all, the one who's going to be playing this thing.

Since part of me felt it was a little strange to have characters in Remnant reacting to something that's very clearly from Earth, but, well, them interacting with stuff from our world is part of the point here, I decided to just make a lot of the things that outright talk about Earth made by a group called StrangeReal Studios. If you can guess where I got the name StrangeReal, you get a cookie..assuming Ruby doesn't devour all the cookies I've got right now. And no, it's not part of the Schnee commercial empire..those guys are filthy rich enough without me giving them more sources of income, and if they had a firm hold on the entertainment industry as well as energy and military? Kind of a scary image.

Oh, for those curious what the trailer looks like, here is the (current) Youtube link.

Trailer: watch?v=LhuIjNSg7Gg (Really ? You don't want me putting an entire youtube link so people could see what I was working with? Makes no sense to me.)

Yeah, I spent this chapter just going through a minute and a half worth of footage. We'll see how long the rest of this fic turns out to be.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Well That's One Way to Start

When Ruby got to Lounge 33, Blake and Weiss were already there. Part of her was surprised they were here at all. Especially Weiss. Though maybe she was here to tell Yang that this idea was just a waste of time and how dare..okay, so maybe she wasn't quite 'that' bad. At least, not after the first few days. She was still kind of prickly, but more like a cactus that you had to know how to touch, not a crazed porcupine trying to claw your face off.

Of course, Yang was leaning against the open door, gesturing everyone to come in. Lounge 33 was a reasonably sized lounge, for those occasions where a team wanted to hang out somewhere other than their own dorm room but still have some manner of privacy and room to do a variety of things unrelated to physical activity. A rather comfortable looking green couch with three cushions, and two orange throw pillows at each extreme end against one wall. On the other side of the room, about ten feet away a fifty by fifty-four inch screen connected to some device that was probably supposed to be a gaming console. Not that Ruby knew enough about those to say what system it was. Her obsession was with weapons, that didn't translate to computing hardware, for all she knew it was a fancy blue DVD player with an elaborate controller connected to it, sitting patiently on a small coffee table. Against the window was a small refrigerator and an ice machine next to it.

Once the other three got into the room, Yang turned the monitor and system on, saying, "Okay, we're going to be in here for a while, girls. Get comfortable."

For some reason, when Ruby imagined everyone taking a seat on the couch, it was somehow..different than what actually happened. She expected Yang to sit in the middle or something, as if asking Ruby to sit on her lap as a sort of comforting thing. Not sitting on the edge closest to the fridge, obviously debating with herself if she should get a drink now or later. She expected Weiss to be the one to take the other end since it'd be closer to the door and she'd be able to leave if and when she wanted. But no, that was apparently Blake's seat, and while she didn't look 'tense', really, she certainly was sitting like she appreciated the option of quickly escaping if she wanted to. So, that just left Weiss and Ruby still standing.

On one hand, it didn't look like Weiss cared where she sat so long as she could get comfortable, and there was plenty of room for that. On the other, considering the fact she felt like she was walking on eggshells anytime her partner was involved, Ruby couldn't help thinking regardless of choice she'd somehow manage to anger the heiress. Still, making a choice would probably be better than making none at all..right, sitting next to Yang.

Now that the seating arrangement was figured out, and the monitor warmed up, Ruby had maybe a few seconds to mentally prepare herself for what was about to start. From what she saw in the trailer, this was going to be a game where humans were fighting against humans, and to the death. Oh god, she didn't even like 'thinking' about killing people, she preferred ripping through monsters. It was harder to feel guilty about killing a bunch of Beowolves than killing a bunch of guys you don't know. Sure, they were going to be imaginary people in a video game, but still..

Well, the company logos were flashing by the screen. Guess that meant the game was about ready to start. The screen went black for a moment.

["Fifty thousand people used to live here.."]

Then she saw several buildings, one with writing she couldn't understand and a Ferris wheel behind it.

["Now it's a ghost town"]

Blake snorted a moment. "Well, they're not wasting any time painting a bleak picture."

As the camera panned panned up the Ferris wheel and green text said where this was, a location that certainly wasn't on Remnant at all, Yang said, "Well, look at it this way, nobody has to worry about noisy neighbors anymore here."

If anyone wanted to say anything further, they were cut off by a deep, heavily accented voice.

["Our so-called leaders prostituted us to the west..destroyed our culture..our economies..our 'honor'."]

As the man was speaking, they saw a small army marching through the mostly abandoned area with..were those tanks? Ruby hadn't seen tanks in anything outside of textbooks and the occasional movie. Sure, very basic design, very effective on flat ground, but in most areas where there were Grimm, it was really much easier to fight on foot, in a mech, or in a Bullhead for a variety of concerns, most of which centered around terrain. Even as she was wondering these things, she noticed someone crawling in the grass, trying not to be spotted by the troops marching by.

Then the camera cut to a scene of the flying aircraft from the trailer blasting a desert city, and a presumably different army entering the city. Presumably, but Ruby couldn't really tell much of a difference in the uniforms between the guys in the abandoned city and the ones attacking this one. Their tanks seemed different, bulkier and with a bigger main cannon.

A female voice, clearly a news reporter, faded in then out.

["..fusion. U.S. Marines, stationed on high alert, were given the order to invade the small but oil rich.."]

Ruby twitched a little. "Oil? Are we talking olive oil, sunflower oil? And why would you attack someone for a cooking ingredient?"

Blake answered that one. "It's StrangeReal, they don't have dust so they've got other power sources. Oil and gasoline are the primary ones, at least if they're consistent with all the other bits of fiction they've made so far."

Weiss made an expression that was somewhere between a grimace and a smirk of superiority. "And this is why the Schnee Dust Company is a monopoly. Nobody gets killed fighting for fuel supplies."

If their eyes weren't glued to the screen, Blake's glare would have been pretty scary. However, Blake's glare was quickly replaced by a hitched breath when they all saw a bunch of people lined up against a wall and summarily shot, with Yang breathing out, "Holy shit.."

The deep voice returned, and they saw the man it most likely came from. Greenish trench coat, bald head, mustache and beard..that was the guy who handed the other guy a gun in the trailer. Behind him was a red flag with a star, and what looked like two crossed, very curved swords.

["Just as they lay waste to our country.."]

And if anyone could have found the words to speak, they'd probably just repeat Yang's 'holy shit' when they saw buildings collapse into sand and blow away in the wind.

["..we shall lay waste to theirs."]

What..what makes buildings that are several stories high just..disintegrate like that? Old age? Was it some scary man's semblance? Whatever it was, Ruby would 'very' much like if it stayed fictional, thank you very much! The scene then switched to a pair of people in black wearing gas masks, and a different voice with the same accent asked, ["Do you think this will stop the bloodshed."]

And Blake just whispered, "No, that tends to make it worse."

Well, if nothing else, this whole gaming thing was making Blake more talkative. Sure, pretty depressing looking beginning, but hey, if this made the team more open with eachother somehow, then it's worth it! Sure, the tense music was now replaced by a heartbeat, and it looked like a pair of rockets were in the sky, and many more action scenes were shown with some ignorable things said like 'we need to take him alive' and various things in languages Ruby couldn't understand, but still, there was nothing that could..wha..

..a large explosion, taking up most of the screen, sent a group of helicopters out of control. Everyone was in silent shock until the title screen popped up, and Yang said, "Okay..when I asked him for an action packed game..I wasn't expecting anything that would light up light a miniature sun! Last time I checked, nothing goes up 'that' big. Weiss, I don't supposed the Schnees have a pyrotechnics division or something, right?"

Weiss shook her head, visibly convincing shaken. "Definitely not something that's possible as far as I know. The biggest explosion I've ever seen was two and a half tons of raw dust going off because someone was careless at a warehouse. Dramatic, but not quite 'that' dramatic..it's probably something so utterly fictional that nobody could 'possibly' come up with it."

If anything, Blake somehow seemed more 'relaxed' after seeing something that utterly destructive than before. "Well, there are a bunch of theories out there about potential alternatives to Dust, and one of them 'could' be that volatile..the combination of that and the currently strong Dust supply worldwide means no one's eager to test that particular theory out."

Weiss took a moment to mumble something about not really paying attention to 'crackpot theories' while Ruby hit start and moved the cursor to start a new game. Where she was expecting something that would ask her what difficulty she wanted to start with, instead it switched to a cutscene. One which started with an awesome looking emblem, a silver sword with wings, spun above the letters S.A.S.. It then shifted itself to the top left corner of the screen as a zoomed out digital map popped up.

A cool sounding guy with a far less menacing sounding accent than before started talking. ["Right, good news first. The world's in great shape."]

The map then shifted to a massive looking continent, over half of which looked like it was covered in snow, with a small white cursor occasionally showing a small video-within-the-video to show in detail what the man was describing. ["We've got a civil war in Russia. Government Loyalists against Ultranationalist rebels. And fifteen thousand nukes at stake."]

Ruby blinked a few times in confusion. "That..doesn't sound like the world's in great shape."

Weiss made a noise that sounded somewhere between amused and frustrated before saying, "Sarcasm, Ruby. Learn how to recognize it."

Another voice with the same accent shot out, ["Just another day at the office."]

Now that brought plenty of chuckles from the girls. For Ruby, it was the combination of how casually he seemed to dismiss a bad sounding situation and the mental image of a guy in an office being a badass hunter, able to stop pretty much anything with any variety of tricked-out office equipment. Exploding pens, razor-sharp papers..

The first voice continued as the camera shifted to what looked like a massive city in a completely different region. ["Khalid Al-Asad. Currently the second most powerful man in the Middle East. Now word on the street is he's got the minerals to be top dog down there. Intel's keeping an eye on him."]

The second voice was just vaguely curious. ["And the bad news?"]

["We got a new guy joining us today. Fresh out of selection. His name's Soap."]

Yang just couldn't let a name like that go by without at least one joke. "Well, he'll probably be able to clean plenty of clocks."

Ruby couldn't stop herself from smiling a little. "Nice one, sis. So..why was it that bleak news about various parts of the world was considered good news, but getting someone new was bad?"

Blake replied, "Well, trouble in the world means they've got some concrete things to fight against. But someone new is one big question mark. Is this person any good? Where are this person's talents? It'd be especially worrying if this squad has been largely unchanged for a very long stretch of time."

Weiss just 'had' to make her next words pointed. "So, is Ruby actually going to do anything in this 'game' here? Or is it just going to be an animated movie with some button prompts?"

Yang shot back, "Oh don't worry, she's going to have her hands full with this one.."

* * *

Closing notes: Well, I'm probably going to have to change up how I deal with dialogue once I start working on the gameplay section. Sure, this method makes it easier to convey emotions and physical motions, but it's going to be pretty clunky if I want them to talk a good deal in this game. And I 'really' don't want the actual gameplay to drag out too much. We are three chapters in and they haven't even gone through the tutorial bit.

Anyway, time to start passing out some cookies for those who correctly said I got it from Ace Combat. Not sure how much of that is just the fact that I blatantly used the word from AC and the internet makes research very easy and how much is because the series was reasonably popular. Anyway, here you go knight7572, ShadeOps21, and Fenrirthedemon. Managed to save a few of these for you, Ruby seems a bit distracted at the moment so it was a little easier than I expected to get these.

As for the guest who suggested I eventually do the Batman Arkham games in the future, I hadn't really thought that far ahead to be honest. I was more figuring I needed something action packed with some clear good guys and bad guys, but a little bit of grey mixed in with the black and white. This was more something to get the girls thinking a little, we'll see if it evolves into its own little fanfiction series. So far I'm having fun with it, and the Dark Knight would certainly be worth the team exploring for a variety of reasons.

Anyway, that's all for now. We'll see when I get the next chapter out. Place your bets, what kind of update rate will I have for the rest of this fic? How long is it going to take for me to write about five to eight hours of gameplay? How is gaming going to in any way effect these girls, especially the rather isolated Weiss who has little to no experience with fiction whatsoever? I certainly don't know.


	4. Chapter 4

Opening Notes: Well, since I'm planning on a good deal of dialogue during the gameplay sections, I'm going to change up how I'm writing the various scenes. We are going to go through Soap's perspective through most of this chapter as I try to get a handle on how I want the majority of this fic to go, and I've got to admit, I'm not sure how the gameplay portions are going to feel in this fic.

Unless I absolutely need to describe what's going with the girls in the lounge, their reactions and commentary will go something like this.

[Weiss: Why did you pick me to be the example, anyway?]

Because I've been rereading the fic Weiss Reacts as well as looking at React Watch Believe Yikes before delving into the next chapter of this story.

[Weiss: I swear, if you turn me into a tsundere just for the sake of comedy..]

Don't worry, I've got other things in mind for comedy around here. And here is an example of how I'll do things when I want to get more descriptive.

[For an inexplicable reason, Weiss felt a chill down her spine. Just as she started was about to shiver, a bucket of vanilla ice cream dropped on her head. Shakily putting a hand to her head, two thoughts came to the forefront. First, try to keep any of it from dripping on to her uniform. She really, 'really' didn't want to deal with any jokes involving white stains the next time she was in class. The second was that she was getting sick and tired of being the butt-monkey in these sorts of stories.

She stared into the soul of the author with a glare that couldn't decide if she wanted to burn him alive, or freeze him and shatter him into bloody pieces. "I'll make you regret that..I'm not sure how yet, but you. Will. Pay."]

And on that note, let's start the next chapter.

* * *

Chapter 4

Getting a Feel for Things

As warehouses go, it was pretty nice. Sure, some of the plaster was cracking along the walls, and there was a visible mist of dust near some of the lights, but all things considered, it wasn't all that bad. They even had an actual floor. Of course, most warehouses he was familiar with were either abandoned or filled to the brim with so many storage crates that it was impossible not to feel claustrophobic. At the very least, the twenty-second SAS regiment certainly knew how to keep their buildings in good shape.

One of the veterans of Soap's new squad, Gaz, seemed like an odd mix of military precision and laid-back self-confidence, and that was just at a first glance. A baseball cap with the ol' Union Jack on it and the sort of mustache and beard combo you get from being too lazy to shave for several weeks were especially eye catching. "Good to see you, mate. Take one of the rifles from the table."

'One of the rifles' probably wasn't the best way to put it. While there was a literal wall of guns of varying types inside a cubical 'behind' the table, there was only one actually on it, occasionally glowing gold to bring extra attention to it.

[Ruby: Huh, when he said 'rifle', I was somehow expecting a sniper rifle, not an assault rifle.

Weiss: And how do you know what kind of gun it is if you haven't even fired it yet?

Yang: Uh oh.

Ruby: Well, it's pretty obvious if you know what to look for. First off, the stock looks like it was made with plenty of recoil in mind, but seems like it can be easily detached. That means they built it thinking not everyone will want to fire it against their shoulders, whereas a lot of hunting and sniper rifles you 'always' want to rest against your shoulder since they're absolute precision weapons. Then there's the way the magazine is angled from the grip, which -

Weiss: Okay, I get it, you know guns!

Yang: Yeah, never question Ruby when it comes to 'any' kind of weapon unless you want a ridiculously detailed analysis. And if you absolutely need her to explain, get it in writing.]

Lifting the weapon, it was in excellent condition. It had the sort of flawless sheen you'd expect from something fresh out of the factory. He looked forward to breaking it in and seeing how it felt.

[Blake: Well, this guy's already failing gun-safety one-oh-one. You generally want to point it at the ground when you aren't ready to shoot someone. But Soap apparently skipped that class.

Ruby: It's probably just a game limitation. We're expected to get in a lot of gunfights, so it might have been easier to keep whatever gun we're holding ready to shoot at any time. I'm more weirded out by the fact that this firing range is empty except for us, the guy telling us what to do, and the guy sitting with all the guns behind him. Really? Why isn't there anyone else practicing right now?]

"You know the drill. Go to station one and aim your rifle downrange."

It was certainly convenient that they put the firing range in the same warehouse as the armory.

[Ruby: Look at that, six shooting stations and we're the only one actually using one! Have you ever 'seen' Beacon's firing range look that empty?! 'Cause every time I've ever gone, it's a coin-toss if there's a station available at 'all'!

Blake: You're pretty comfortable with your weapon, Ruby. How often do you go to a firing range just to keep your aim sharp?

Ruby: Around half an hour every couple of days. At least, assuming I don't have to wait for an open stall. And thankfully I don't have to waste any time setting up targets..did I mention I 'love' that this place uses holographic targets?

Blake: And when you go, do you do it because you're not very comfortable with your aim as it is and you want to improve it, or to make sure whatever calibrations you made to your sniper rifle are good?

Ruby: Um, the second.

Blake: You're pretty diligent with your gun, constantly carrying it around and doing daily bits of maintenance. But in an army, there are people dedicated to making sure the equipment is in top shape, and the most the soldiers have to deal with is keeping it in shape when they're out in the field and keeping themselves sharp. And since armies tend to keep their equipment fairly standard with few alterations, it's not like someone's going to be caught off guard if he picks up a different gun than he was using yesterday.

Yang: Wow..I don't think I've ever heard you say that much. What inspired that?

Blake: ..I've got some friends who were..a little obsessed with the military, especially in Atlas. ]

"Now aim your rifle downrange."

Soap adjusted the gun to his shoulder so he could look down the sight, and a paper bullseye popped down from the ceiling.

"Now shoot each target while aiming down the sights."

Taking a moment to line up his shot so it landed dead center, he pulled the trigger quickly, two bullets flying in that instant. The next target popped up just underneath it, and he took his time to center his shot again. Why bother hurrying when there was no need, after all? He wanted to get a feel for the gun, not prove anything to anyone. This time his finger merely twitched, and only one bullet flew out of the barrel.

[Weiss: "Reverse your controls for.."..what are they asking?

Yang: Control preferences. Do you want to look up and down by pulling a control stick one way or another. So, which way do you swing, Ruby?

Blake was the only one who caught the pun, groaning a little. Dear god, if you're going to make that kind of pun, at least try to make sure what you were commenting on had some vague connection with sex.

Ruby: I think I'll go with the inverted view. Kind of makes me think I'm flying a plane or something!

Weiss: But you're not flying a plan, you're moving a person around!]

"Lovely. Now shoot at the targets while firing from the hip."

[Yang: Wha? Why would you 'want' to fire from the hip?

Blake: Faster than going from a resting position to against your shoulder.

Ruby: But it's so much harder to aim from the hip!

Blake: I think that's his point.]

Three cardboard targets with generic bad guys popped up, and Soap fired off a pair of rounds. Managed to get the nearest one pretty easily, maybe this wasn't so bad. He then tried another pair of rounds on the next nearest target, and while both came close, they flew right by the target and struck the wall. A little embarrassed, he shifted his aim more to the left and got it with the next one. The third gave him even more trouble, though. Seven bullets uselessly smacked against the wall before one finally found its mark, right on the nose of the cardboard bastard.

[Weiss: So..he essentially had us do the bad method just to highlight how much better the first way was? That's..that's actually pretty clever.

Blake: It was probably more for the sake making sure he actually 'could' fire from the hip decently in case on an emergency, but yeah, it does tend to have that effect.]

"Now I'm going to block the targets with a sheet of plywood."

[Weiss: Why?]

"I want you to shoot the targets through the wood."

Emptying what was left of the clip in the general spots the targets were before, Soap managed to strike two out of the three despite not seeing them. Taking a moment after to reload, Gaz reminded him of more basics he already knew considering his level of training. It was almost enough to be insulting, really.

"Good. Bullets will penetrate thin, weak materials such as wood, plaster, and sheet metal."

[Ruby: And depending on the caliber of bullet, the type and quality of Dust, and what the gun is capable of, they might be able to go through even harder materials. And unlike in video games, something like a gatling gun 'will' tear through things like solid rock if given enough time and ammo.

Weiss: Huh, good to know.]

"Now I'm going to make the targets pop-up one at a time. Hit all of them as fast as you can. As long as you're aiming near the target, you can snap onto them by repeatedly popping in and out of aiming down the sight."

And with that, targets started popping up, and Soap brought them back down within a fraction of a second with a single bullet each. It wasn't all that hard to do, really. It was the same three cardboard guys over and over again, really, how could he possibly embarrass himse..oh..sent another bullet into the wall because Gaz stopped the exercise without warning. Right, note to self, don't tempt fate, she has a sadistic sense of humor. Thankfully he only tempted her with something simple.

It was hard to tell if Gaz was condescending or genuinely impressed at Soap's performance so far. His voice certainly didn't tell the tale, and the fact he was just behind station 1 with a grin on his face as he leaned on a railing with a perfect view of the action was just as uninformative. "Proper good job, mate! Now go get a sidearm from the armory."

Running back to the table, a pistol was waiting for him, the USP .45.

"Good, now switch to your rifle."

[Weiss: But you just told us to grab the pistol!]

"Now pull out your sidearm."

[Ruby: Make up your mind. Which do you want?]

"Remember. Switching to your pistol is always faster than reloading."

[Yang: Most pistols don't have the same impact as a rifle, though, and don't have quite as much range.

Weiss: Funny to hear you talk about range when you solve so many of your problems with your fists.

Yang: Hey, I'll have you know that Ember Celica is perfectly fine at ranged fighting, hitting pretty hard.

Ruby: And she can keep punching while she shoots.]

"Alright Soap, come this way."

Walking up to the watermelon just under Gaz, Soap took a moment to wonder if it'd been sitting there the entire time or if Gaz snuck it in somehow while he was distracted with target practice.

"Using your knife is even faster than switching to your pistol. Knife the watermelon."

Pulling his knife out with his left hand and swinging it in a reverse grip, it was hard to say if the watermelon shattered because it was sliced open and landed on the floor, or if Soap had somehow screwed up and gave it a roundhouse punch.

"Nice! Your fruit killing skills are remarkable!"

[Yang: Next up, we'll see how you fair against a coconut. And then finally we'll see how you fair against a big side of beef.

Blake: Is it just me or is this bit of training a little..demeaning?

Ruby: Well, the player has to figure out the controls before they throw us into the action, but..yeah. Anyone who actually knows what they're doing would probably start feeling a little insulted at this point. Even people who don't know what they're doing could probably go through these tests with little to no trouble.]

"Captain Price wants to see you."

When first heard, that sentence didn't really mean much of anything. Just that the man Soap would be taking orders from for the foreseeable future wanted to meet his new subordinate. As he jogged out of one warehouse and towards another that looked no different from the outside, Soap didn't know he'd gone from just another soldier to someone who would be a major part in shaping history. And as the warehouse gates doors inexplicably opened, the girls playing through this game had no idea that what the simple game they were going through would help shape them in the coming year..

* * *

Closing notes: I know, kind of painful that I stopped this chapter just before the close quarters obstacle course, and before we even got a single word or reaction from Price. Still, seemed like as good a stopping point as any. Dear god, I've really got to get a handle on how I'm going to write for the rest of this fic. This was less than two minutes worth of screen-time.

Now, a number of people have been making suggestions for what games and game series to go to once I'm done with this. That seems a little premature since I've only just started this game and am planning to do the rest of the Modern Warfare subseries before moving on to anything like Batman or Resident Evil. At this point, this was my thought process.

Modern Warfare 1 is done at some nondescript point in volume one, when nothing has really happened to the team and they're still trying to get a feel for one another. Modern Warfare 2 happens some time after Part 2 of Forever Fall. Modern Warfare 3 will be done at some point after Blake's been outted. Essentially, I'm using these three Call of Duty games to help me doing some of the same things I was planning on doing with the fic Heart of the Scythe, only that one seems to have stalled out for various reasons. Perhaps this series and the fics to come after it will replace that, and that fic may be dead. Or maybe what I'm doing here will invigorate me to push forward with that one. We'll see. For now, this is the Blue Demon of Fire, signing out and hoping you enjoyed this chapter and what I'm doing with the characters so far.


	5. Chapter 5

Opening Notes: Well, we're at the CQB, or close quarters combat test. In Modern Warfare, this is the point where the rest of the game's difficulty is determined. Had a good number of thoughts on how to handle this bit, we'll see if I manage to pull it off.

* * *

Chapter 5

Something to Prove

While exterior of this warehouse was the same as the last one, and there was still enough dust in the air to look like mist under the light, the set-up inside was rather different. A raised platform to the right, a makeshift building within the building straight ahead, and to the left a series of television screens. But more eye catching than that was Soap's new squad.

Four men were huddled together, whatever conversation they were having interuppted as they all turned to look at Soap, and he couldn't help feeling a little awkward. Oh if only there was a way to make being the new guy any less nerve-wracking. Three of the four were in full combat gear, including gas masks for some reason, but the fourth, the one directly in front of him, had not put his mask on just yet, letting it sit on top of his head. He looked somewhere in his thirties or forties, with the sort of mustache that just screamed "badass old-timer", and the scraggily beginnings of a beard just under it.

[Weiss: Okay, that makes two soldiers in less than five minutes we've seen who can't be bothered to shave. Shouldn't they be at least a 'little' more concerned with their appearance? They're in the military of all places!

Yang: Well, sometimes you need that extra bit of hair to be awesome.

Weiss: Oh really? I'll remember to tell Professor Portman you said that.

Blake: That escalated quickly.

Yang: I said 'sometimes'! He's one of the exceptions!]

Gaz's voice rang out despite the fact that he was nowhere to be seen. "It's the FNG sir."

[Ruby: FNG?

Blake: It means freaking new guy.

Ruby: Huh..wait, did you replace a word there?

Blake: Yeah.

Weiss had an awkward moment where she wanted to ask what word Blake switched out, but held herself back. Better to seem like she didn't really care and look it up later than reveal she was in some ways more innocent than Ruby.]

" Go easy on him sir, it's his first day on our regiment."

The old man, Captain Price, gave Soap a dismissive looking once-over before saying in the most derisive tone Soap had ever heard in his life, "Right..what the hell kind of name is Soap, eh? How'd a muppet like you pass Selection?"

[Ruby: Hey! Don't judge me before I even do anything!]

Turning a bit to his right, Price crossed his arms and sounded like he was all business."Soap, it's your turn for the CQB test. Everyone else head to Observation. For this test, you'll have to run the cargo-ship solo in less than sixty seconds. Gaz holds the current squadron record of nineteen seconds. Good luck."

He nodded at Soap as he finished speaking, a a split second, possibly imagined flash of hope that the newbie would be a good addition to the team across his face.

[Ruby: Wait, CQB test? Is this some kind of test to see how good we are with the knife? Because it doesn't look like these guns have any melee options other than just clubbing someone.

Blake: It's probably just something to be sure you'll be able to hold your own in less than favorable circomstances.]

"Climb the ladder over there."

Quickly moving to position, Soap barely noticed another SAS member in full combat gear waiting at the top. His eyes were more focused on an MP5 submachine gun and several grenades on top of a crate.

Price called up, "Pick up the MP5 and four flash-bangs."

[Blake: Okay..I don't think I've ever heard of any grenades called 'flash-bangs'. Ruby?

Ruby: It's new to me, too. All grenades make sort of a flash as they go bang, so..kind of a wierd name]

"On my go, I want you to rope down to the deck and rush to position one. After that you will storm down the stairs to position 2. Then positions three and four, following my precise instructions at each position. Grab the rope when you're ready."

Switching his assault rifle for the submachine gun and quickly holstering the grenades, Soap walked to the rope and took a look down to get an idea of what he was in for. Position 1 was the only thing visible at the start. Let's see, several glassless windows looking into a room, the room itself didn't really look like anything anyone would actually use as a workspace. The tables were set up more for the sake of being obstacles than anything else, and the various other things like chairs and a water cooler were thrown in just for the sake of making the room look more busy. There were a few more of the cardboard bad-guys just waiting to pop up. Looked simple enough.

[Weiss: What kind of low-budget close quarters test doesn't have any drones at all?

Yang: Um, the kind that's pretty much everywhere other than Mantle? Still, got to admit I was expecting a few people down there to put the newbie through his paces. Not more carboard targets.

Ruby: There could be. It's not like we can see through the floor.]

Once he was sure he'd taken as much of a look as he could, Soap put his gun to his side as he slid down.

"Go, go, go!"

[Ruby: I'm going already!]

Pulling out the MP5 the instant he was on the ground, the cardboard targets popped up, and he opened fire on each one as he moved.

"Hit the targets!"

[Yang: Really? Never would have guess we were supposed to do that.]

As the third one fell, Price yelled, "Position 2! Go!"

Running towards the stairs, Soap reloaded more for the sake of keeping a full clip than any convern about a lack of ammo. Another target at the bottom of the stairs, easy to hit. A little over nine seconds.

Through the door, another target..that didn't pop up.

"Flash-bang through the door!"

Would have been nice to hear that a little faster. Backing out of the room as he primed and threw the grenade, he shoved himself against the wall with a three painted on it at thirteen and a half seconds. Explosion, move in!

[Yang:..kind of a sucky grenade. I don't see any damage at all.

Blake: Maybe it's just a training tool? It'd probably get expensive to deal with so many craters in a frequently done exercise.]

"Position 4! Hit the targets! Position 5, go! Hit the targets!" Twenty seconds.

[Ruby: I don't think you need to tell me to hit the targets, I think I've got the drill!]

"Six, go! Flash-bang through the door!" Twenty-two and a half.

"Hit the targets! Final position, go! Sprint to the finish!" Final time, twenty-seven point ninty-five seconds. Three seconds shaved off due to accuracy score, and his final time was twenty-four point ninty-five. Not bad for a first run through unfamiliar territory. Still, it was hard not to think he'd do better in a second run through, especially since he knew which rooms he needed to throw a flash-bang through.

"Pretty good, Soap. But I've seen better. Climb the ladder if you want another go, otherwise come over to the monitors for a debrief."

[Blake: A timed shooting range slash obstacle course. Pretty basic, not really a problem if you know what you're doing. Still, having to listen to the captain's orders at each spot was kind of a slow-down.

Ruby: Well, since we can try it again, I don't see any reason not to. Time to climb back up.]

"Replace any flash-bangs you used. Grab the rope when you're ready."

Now that he knew what he had to go through, Soap tuned out the captain the first time he said "Hit the targets." One, two, three, first room done. Bottom of the stairs, seven seconds. Unfortunately, that's when things went bad for him. Tossing the grenade into the next room, he banged his foot against the doorway. That split second of stumbling cost him badly as the flash-bang went off, his ears began ringing, and his world turned white.

[While everyone else made slightly started noises, Blake felt her hidden ears try to burrow themselves into her head just hearing the noise from the screen, and she covered her side ears out of sheer reflex as she hissed. Dear god, she didn't know what was worse. Hearing that high pitched whine from the TV that was little more than two octives away from legitimately hurting, or the sudden, horrifying thought of someone actually designing something like that. Dear god, a grenade meant to blind and defen? What kind of sadistic bastard thought that up? Just how much worse would it be in real life? Would it have even worse effects on a faunus?

Yang: Okay, what just happened!

Weiss: The grenade just took out our sight and hearing! Wha..Ruby, don't shoot when you're blinded!

Ruby: Crap oh crapohcrapocrp.]

If he hadn't accidentally squeezed the trigger, he might have been able to salvage that run. At the very least, he could have tried to match his first run. Instead, his accuracy score went down a couple of points because of his screw up..not that that would have mattered much. Even with the same time bonus for good accuracy, he had finished the run three and a half seconds slower than before. It's just that without the bonus, it looked like a more embarrassing five seconds.

Price sounded more bored than anything else. "Don't waste our time, Soap. The idea is to take less time, not more."

[Something about the way he worded that called up every moment Weiss had been unfairly critical of Ruby. When she sneezed and blew them both up after Weiss had shaken a jar of red dust, when she started berrating her about it just before Ozpin's speech, her stubbornness and combative attitude when they were still looking for the relics at initiation, and the verbal tearing down just after their first class together flashed through her brain in a single instant. Maybe it was the fact that she was growing tired of being constantly cautious around Weiss while trying to earn her respect on a daily basis with little to no visible progress. Maybe it was the fact that Captain Price was a video game character, not someone she would actually have to deal with on a day to day basis. Either way, she was more free with her frustration than she ever was with Weiss.

None of the others noticed the slight hardening of her expression, or that she spoke with gritted teeth. "Oh, I'm not going to make the same mistake twice. Prepare to be wowed, Price."

Switching to the pistol, she got Soap up the ladder again, grabbing the flash grenades. If any of the others said anything, she didn't hear it. Her semblence was speed, damnit, and even if she couldn't actually use it in a game, she refused to be considered slow by some jerk who seemed to have formed an opinion of her without actually meeting or knowing her.]

When Soap got down this time, it was an entirely different story. It's faster to pull out a pistol than a submachine gun or assault rifle, so he could open fire the instant he hit the ground. His second shot hit both the second and third target at the same time, and he started sprinting towards the stairs at the two-point-nine second mark. Position 4 cleared at nine-point-five. Position 6, fifteen-point-two. Finish line, seventeen-point-six. Accuracy dealt with three seconds, resulting in a final time of fourteen-point-six. Oh goodie, a new record. Price's orders were a few seconds too late each and every time.

[Ruby had a self-satisfied smirk on her face, as if daring anyone to have something bad to say about her performance. Too bad Weiss took that dare without even realizing it was issued.

Weiss: Um..weren't you supposed to do that with the other gun?

Crap, didn't think of that.

Blake: Well, Captain Price doesn't seem to be complaining, so I guess it's not considered cheating.

Whew, thank you Blake.]

Price nodded calmly as the other squadmembers gestured towards the screens in faceless awe. "All right Soap, that's enough. You'll do."

[Ruby felt most of the muscles in her body go slack at that. Really? The guy was starting to feel as bad as Weiss! Oh thank god Wiess wasn't the leader of their team or Ruby would probably have all the energy just drained from her. If doing something 'that' impressive didn't earn his respect, what would? And was it even 'possible' to earn Weiss's respect?!

Yang seemed to have similar thoughts. "Oh come on, the rookie just beat out your best guy's score! That's got to count for 'something'!"

Blake: To be fair, it was an obstacle course with no danger attached to it at all. It's only going to tell you so much about someone's combat ability.]

"Gentlemen, the cargoship mission is a go. Get yourselves sorted out. Wheels up at 0200. Dismissed."

[Blake: 0200..ouch.

Yang: What's the time in normal speak?

Blake/Weiss: 2 AM.

Yang chuckled a moment. "Nice timing with the time there, girls."

Blake felt a blush coming on, while Weiss didn't seem to care about the unexpected cohesion with her teammate, just noticing something on the screen. "Huh, so the time on the obstacle course gives you a suggested difficulty level?"

Ruby: Looks like it..I think I'll stick with the one suggested after our first run. It's probably safer to go with how we did when we didn't know what we were getting into than when we got a pair of extra tries at the course.

Part of Weiss was tempted to push Ruby to pick the absolute hardest difficulty, especially since she proved she had the reflexes and hand-eye coordination for it. But she stopped herself when she realized she was about to try pushing her partner to avoid laziness in a 'game'. That kind of felt like an oxymoron.]

* * *

Closing notes: I figure Blake isn't going to be insanely familiar with everything from our world even if she is familiar with it due to her reading. She has her own interests and genres that she likes, and there will be plenty of things that just weren't talked about in the things she read.

And it seems Ruby has a few issues when it comes to Weiss. I didn't really like the fact that the two got so close after such a rocky beginning without anything really seen on screen in the show. Sure, Weiss had that moment where she got Ruby coffee, but that felt like the outright hostility was gone. They've still got some issues to work through.

Weiss was raised by the sort of people who demand perfection in everything, who weren't impressed by her meeting their expectations and always saw every screw-up. Ruby was a prodegy child who exceeded expectations, probably got a good amount of praise from her uncle, father, and sister, and while she might be open to critisism, the sort of harsh, unrelenting critisism Weiss thinks is normal is a new beast that she doens't know how to deal with. Don't worry, they still fit together damn well as partners, and White Rose is one of my favorite pairings in the fandom. I just feel they need to work through their differences, and they might not fully click together until after they've hashed things out.

So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review and say what you liked or think needs improving. This the the Blue Demon of Fire, signing off.


	6. Chapter 6

Opening notes: Still experimenting a little to try to figure out how to do this. It's made a little more annoying since the Modern Warfare series has a good amount of relevant dialogue and plenty going on in the loading screens. There's also the fact that transcribing absolutely every bit of gameplay is going to extend this fic by a good deal. So for now, I'll switch between the in-game/immersive main view with the girls inside the brackets, and focusing more on the girls with the game's events going on in brackets. I'll put line breaks for when the perspective shifts like that. Hope no one minds.

Speaking of mind, remember the Black trailer? Remember Blake's Words to Adam? "What about the crew members?" Yeah, it seems both the trailer 'and' the first actual mission of the game are spawning some memories. You would not 'believe' the amount of trouble I had keeping Blake from walking off right here and now, and that would take at 'least' a quarter of the appeal in this story.

* * *

Chapter 6

Are We the Good Guys Here?

Yang stood up, intending to get the first round of drinks while the first actual mission loaded, but was caught off guard when it wasn't some simple black screen with the word 'loading' in the corner. Nope, it went immediately to that same world-view-interface thing that the game started with. And as the map shifted to show that their next mission was a good distance away from the opening piece of the game, Price and Gaz had a short but 'very' ear-catching conversation.

[Price: Bravo team, the Intel on this op comes from our informant in Russia. The package is aboard a medium freighter, Estonian registration number five-two-seven-seven-five. There is a small crew and security detail onboard.

Gaz: Rules of engagement, sir?

Price: Crew expendable.]

Blake immediately sat up straight, arm suddenly grabbing the armrest so tightly it was like she wanted to rip it off and smack someone with it. "WHAT?!"

Weiss merely raised an eyebrow, surprised but not overly so. If anything, her lack of response was as surprising as Blake's violent reaction.

Yang twisted and turned Price's words, looking at them from every angle, as if trying to find an interpretation of that line that didn't sound like a military man had just 'ordered' the deaths of non-combatants. Her confused train of thought was derailed when Ruby paused the game just as the screen went white. Slowly, she put the controller on the coffee table, and started sucking in a breath. Based on the way her eyes were all-too-calmly shut, Yang suddenly flashed back to when her sister found out Santa wasn't real. Very, very scary moment. "Yang..when you had this whole 'gaming night' idea..did you know 'anything' about the game you got for it?"

Shaking her head fast enough that she might make herself dizzy, Yang quickly stuttered, "Um, no, I just, you know, asked a friend for something interesting."

Blake continued the interrogation with a bit more venom in her voice. "Yes, interesting. That's one way to put it. After all, how interesting is it to see through the eyes of the VILLAINS?!"

The biggest surprise so far, at least to the blond, was when Weiss came to her defense. Weiss..came to Yang's..defense? That just didn't sound right. At all. "Isn't it a little early to start calling them villains? We don't really know the context of anything yet."

Blake took a moment to just stare incredulously at Weiss, digested what she said..and started breaking down into a snorting laugh. "Con..context?"

The laugh then devolved into something downright terrifying and as much as Yang was suddenly curious what mental landmines this game had set off she felt like asking right 'now' would end with the at-the-moment hysterically mad girl strangling the blond with her own intestines. "Context?! What kind of CONTEXT involves killing INNOCENT PEOPLE who just HAPPEN to be on the same SHIP?!"

Most people would have backed away. Some braver people might have tried saying something to calm her down. But Weiss? She just looked at the warning signs and seemed to go 'fuck that, I've got a point I want to make'. "How do we 'know' they're innocent?!"

For a split second, the world around them seemed to pause. Yang didn't really know what to do, this was 'so' far outside what she thought might happen tonight that all she could manage to do was watch. Ruby looked seemed to be 'debating' with herself if she should save Weiss from the 'very' visibly enraged Blake, or just watch the carnage. This was a pivotal moment. In one alternate universe, Blake beat the ever-loving crap out of Weiss, and the day ended in disaster. In a slightly altered version of that branch, Ruby joined in because Weiss had given her 'ample' reason to when they first met. So what broke the tension? What saved the situation and prevented what was supposed to be a relaxing team-building moment from turning into a beating? Yang's scroll went off, and her ringtone started blaring.

[ _I see it in your eyes,_

 _you're feeling paranoid_

 _You know just what I've done_

 _You know what I've -_ ]

Whatever Blake was going to say derailed immediately as Yang fumbled with it, the blond quickly turning off the song and mumbling, "Ugh, I thought I told him I'm going to be busy tonight."

Taking a moment to just sit back down and smooth out her uniform, the raven haired girl somehow managed to mumble, "Sorry."

Sitting back down herself, Weiss grumbled under her breath, "And people say 'I' take things too seriously."

Yang quickly sent her reply message and then turned off her scroll. Sure, that interruption was 'very' much appreciated, but it still felt a little embarrassing. Ruby finally opened her eyes and asked, "Yang, do you happen to have anything..alcoholic in the fridge?"

Blinking a bit at the unexpected question, Yang replied, "I wasn't really expecting this would be a drinking night, so..nothing all that strong. Just some random kind-of-weak beers, cokes, water, and maybe some apple juice in there. Why?"

Ruby's answer was concise and to the point. "Because if we're so high-strung that a pair of words in a story make us react like 'this', we need 'something' to keep us from doing something stupid."

Weiss grimaced at the idea. "Really? Why are you saying that 'we' need it? Blake's the one who turned into a mad woman!"

The stare Ruby sent her partner was disbelieving. "You almost seemed to be goading her on, Yang was like a deer in the headlights when things went weird, and I was actually kind of tempted to just 'let' whatever was going to happen happen. I don't know how we got this nutty, but we need 'something' in order to relax and burn off the stress before we 'really' go crazy, and frankly, this game seems like the best idea in that regard. So, unless anyone has any objections, we're going to continue this thing in a bit."

Slowly, Blake's usual mask of calm returned. "Okay..half an hour. I'm giving this thing half an hour. If it doesn't prove the main characters aren't kill-happy lunatics, I'm out of here."

And with that said, Ruby unpaused the game.

* * *

Soap didn't really pay attention to what the pilot was saying as the helicopter flew through the stormy night. He was just trying to calm himself before his first mission with the squad, hoping all the training and drills would be enough. If he was allowed to, he probably would have taken his gun apart and made some personal adjustments if he thought there was time. It was hard not to feel a little hyped up in the early morning, knowing all hell was going to break loose soon.

If Price was in any way nervous, he didn't show it. Maybe smoking that cigar was how he calmed down, or maybe he was smoking the cigar less than a minute from the drop zone because he'd seen it all, and he figured it'd be easier to feed his addiction inside a fast moving helicopter than in the middle of a brutal looking thunderstorm.

[Weiss: Ugh. Disgusting habit.

Yang: Hey, if you think you might not live to the morning, you're going to try living a little whenever you can.

Ruby: It doesn't really look like he's having 'fun' smoking that thing. More like..bored.]

They finally had reached the ship, and it looked bigger than what Soap imagined. Maybe it was a trick of the lighting, maybe it was how it was swaying due to the massive waves, but something that big could easily hold a lot of people. The question was, how much space on that thing was devoted to living quarters, and how much was for cargo? Because just one person extra body to deal with could be the difference between heading back home and ending up dead.

The helicopter began slowing down, and Soap finally heard the pilot say, "Ten seconds." That was his cue to put his mask on. It was more for the sake of keeping their origins a secret than any concern about chemical weapons. He couldn't help wondering why they should bother, though. They weren't exactly planning on leaving any witnesses anyway.

"Radio check, go to a secure channel." Something about that moment when you put on a mask where it's not fully on and your vision's obscured always felt unnerving. Maybe it was the fact that most people relied so much on their eyes to know what was going on, and he usually had to put on a mask when things were loud and you never knew what would happen in those few seconds it took for you to find those damn eye holes. Maybe it was some residual, childish fear of the dark, and his lifestyle had brought it back to a degree. Regardless, once the mask was on, he pulled out his MP5, did a quick check, and undid the safety.

There wasn't really much difference going down the rope of the helicopter in the middle of a storm and going down the rope for the CQB back at base. Maybe a little wetter, but it was hard to tell considering the gear Soap was wearing. The instant he touched the ground, he met eyes with a man behind a control panel, cup of coffee still to his lips..poor bastard.

[Weiss: Huh..so, aside from some slight differences in positioning..that..that looks like the test. That's actually pretty good planning.]

Just as the men inside the bridge started to react, Price said, "Weapons free." All in all, four people dead in less than two seconds. It was almost sad to see one of them try to run away only to get cut down by gunshots from three different angles at once.

[Ruby: What the..no aura?!

Weiss: It's the crew, I don't think they were planning on seeing any combat.

Blake: You can't even call that collateral damage, they were just 'slaughtered'.]

Gaz stated the obvious. "Bridge secure."

Price probably didn't need to say it, but said it anyway. "Hold your fire."

[Yang: Nobody's shooting..probably because there's no one left to shoot.]

"Gaz, stay in the bird until we secure the deck. Over."

[Weiss: Leaving one of your best men in the aircraft? Why? It's not like he'll be able to see much in that storm, and the pilot would probably have a better view than him, anyway.

Ruby: Maybe in case things go wrong and they need him to help from a different angle?]

"Roger that."

Kicking open the door, the squad moved from position one, and thankfully they didn't have to rush to beat some timer as they went to position 2. They could afford to be more careful. "Squad, on me."

* * *

Closing notes: I know, yet another awkward point for me to end a chapter. Especially since once again, we've seen little to no gameplay. Blame that on the tense scene at the start of this chapter. It felt like it had to be done, really, and after that I didn't have a hell of a lot of energy today. I know, I don't necessarily have to upload a chapter each day, but what can I say? I'm on a roll writing this thing and while writing for longer would let me having larger chapters, considering the way I write I don't really see it improving the look or feel of any of these scenes.

Hope you enjoyed.


	7. Chapter 7

Opening note: Well, this took a while to do..partly because I started reading The Games We Play on the Spacebattles Forums and was completely consumed, partly because of other, more personal things.

From here on, I'm going to try making the chapters longer, finishing at least one mission per chapter. While updating once a day was keeping me on the front page in the ever-growing field of RWBY fics, the fact of the matter is that even 'I' was getting annoyed by the fact that it felt like pretty much every chapter was a cliffhanger. Of course, doing it this way won't let me update nearly as frequently, but is less likely to feel like I'm just leaving you hanging with each and every chapter.

Anyway, let's finish off the first real mission of Call of Duty Modern Warfare.

* * *

Chapter 7

Simple Pragmatism

"Stairs, clear."

[Yang: Well this part looks a least a little different than what they practiced with.

Blake: Makes sense. They were probably working with a generic ship set-up, not knowing the exact layout of the ship they had to enter.]

Turning the corner, looking into the hallway, Soap quickly took stock of his new surroundings. Two doors to the right, two to the left though only one of them was open, door to the outside right in front, and a drunken man right in front of it, stumbling as he tried to walk. It was almost amazing he could stand at all with the combination of being completely besotted and on a ship rocking around in the middle of a storm. If he was sober, he'd probably be a very scary man to deal with..so Soap put three bullets into him. No need to give a man like that the chance to regain his wits.

Price let out a good bit of snark. "Last call."

[Yang: Ha, good one!

Blake: Yes, very good, take his life then immediately start joking about it. Why don't you just steal his wallet while you're at it?

Ruby: Are you going to be this snippy 'every' time we kill someone in this game?

Blake: Every time you kill someone who can't shoot back, yes.

Weiss: It's his own fault for being drunk on the job.]

The squad spread out, checking each side of the hall to make sure they had nothing to worry about. Soap took the first door to his right. A small, empty kitchen in front, closed door on the right, and a small living quarters to the left. Two of the three bunks were occupied, and somehow it wasn't all that surprising the guys in it were still sleeping peacefully. A pair of bullets in each of them ensured they'd never wake up again.

One of the other squadmembers chuckled a little. "Sleep tight."

[Weiss: While I understand this probably isn't their shift, you'd 'think' they'd have woken up when the people upstairs got shot, much less the drunk outside their 'open door'!

Ruby: Suppressed gunfire while they're in the middle of a storm this bad? I 'wish' I could sleep like that.]

There wasn't much left to deal with on this side of the ship, especially since nobody felt in the mood to open any of the shut doors. If there 'was' anyone else on this end, they were even less of a factor than the drunk and the sleepers. As the last open door was checked, Price called out, "Crew quarters, clear! Move up!"

Rushing outside into the rain once again, the squad quickly went down a set of stairs, eyes peeled for any new contacts. It was doubtful they'd find anyone drunk in the cargo hold or outside in the rain. They still had the element of surprise, and the guards were probably bored as hell and grumbling about patrolling on a night like this, but even boredom and depressing weather only did so much to hold a man's attention.

"Forward decks clear. Green light on Alpha. Go!"

Once they got down the stairs and onto the center of the ship, the squad started weaving their way around the various cargo containers. Say what you would about the men in the crew quarters and bridge, you couldn't deny they certainly kept everything secure even on a night like this. Soap certainly appreciated the fact that none of the cargo shifted even the smallest inch.

Price apparently didn't like how the squad was clustered together. "Fan out, three meter spread."

[Ruby: Um, how far is a meter?

Yang: Don't look at me, I never cared for the metric system!

Weiss: Three meters is approximately nine-point-eighty four feet. And why is it that Vale didn't adopt the metric system, anyway? It's just more efficient!

Yang: We have our quirks, you have yours. Deal with it.]

Gaz's voice rang out, "Got two on the platform."

Soap could barely see them, a set of cargo containers stood in his way. At most he saw their flashlights. He never really understood the point behind putting flashlights on the end of your gun. It just made you a bigger target, especially when you didn't know you were under attack in the first place. Sure, wearing night vision goggles for an extended period of time might give you a headache, but at least it made it less likely for someone to see you before you saw them.

"I see 'em."

Weaving around the crates, trying to get a better angle, Soap momentarily wondered just how close he should get before taking them down. The MP5 wasn't known for its long range accuracy, and it's not like the current weather or environment made it any easier to aim. Still, he had all the time in the world, it's not like the poor bastards were even looking down at the containers. They were just casually walking on the catwalk, just going through the motions on another dark, stormy night. Still, given all the other lights out here, they'd probably notice a shadow where there wasn't supposed to be sooner or later.

[Blake: Seriously, you can't possibly call more attention to yourself than using a flashlight at night.

Yang: Really? I'd have thought that -

Ruby: Don't finish that sentence, Yang!

Yang: - having kinky sex and broadcasting it on every possible public channel would get more attention.

Weiss face-palmed, her one visible eye twitching, while Ruby just wished the controller wasn't in her hands so she could throw a pillow at her. Blake, though, cracked her first smile of the night.

Blake: Depends on the people having sex, and how they do it. Now, if -

Ruby: Stop, no, I don't want to hear any details! As leader of team RWBY, I hereby deem any triple-x activities to be banned topics!

Weiss: Seconded.

Blake: We'll see how long that rule gets followed.]

"Weapons free." Price was probably a little premature with that order. No one was in a good spot to take them down just yet.

Gaz replied, "Roger that."

Great, a man who was probably still on the helicopter acknowledging the order to open fire. It's not like Gaz 'could' take a shot at the bastards from up there. Crouched and hoping neither of the guards would have the chance to call for help, Soap took the first one down.

"Target neutralized."

[Weiss: Shouldn't the guy who fired the gun say that?

Blake: This 'Soap' looks like one of those silent protagonists, so no.]

Before the other guy even had a chance to register the man in front of him had dropped to the ground, Soap shifted his aim and blasted him as well, a wordless scream exiting his throat as he fell.

"Tango down."

[Weiss: Wait, why did their lights turn off?

Ruby: Um, reflex or something?

Weiss: You mean to tell me they reflexively turned off their flashlights in response to being 'killed'?!

Ruby: Well, it makes more sense than even the guards having no aura to speak of! 'Anyone' who expects to be in a fight, even a thug, has at least a 'partially' awakened aura!

Blake: Maybe nobody in that world 'knows' how to awaken auras?

Weiss: Now 'there' is a scary thought. A world where people don't know how to use their auras..

For a moment, Weiss let a hand trail near her scar, wondering if there'd be anything left of her if she'd taken that particular strike without any aura, or if she'd just have a more horrific scar.]

Quickly reloading while pushing forward, whatever praise Soap had for the crew's ability to secure their cargo died. A few of the larger crates looked like they fell and crumpled against one another, blocking off part of his path. Given the fact that he hadn't heard any recent noise, that meant it happened some time before they'd even arrived on the ship. And then there were multiple steel barrels strewn about the deck, and directly ahead an open cargo container. Going inside of the large crate more out of a paranoid need to stay in cover whenever possible than anything else, once bullets started flying, that caution felt justified. They'd finally lost the element of surprise.

Taking cover behind a crate within the container, returning fire, he barely heard Gaz whisper in the radio, "We've got company."

[Ruby: Think I noticed.]

Soap probably would have felt more annoyed by that if he wasn't so busy. It was hard to tell just how many people were shooting at him right now. All the enemies were upstairs, shooting through blurry windows that became even harder to see through when lightning went off in the distance. While some of the windows fell apart as bullets flew both directions, that didn't really help when all he could see of any given enemy was a barely visible torso and a flashing gun. And regardless of intellectually knowing he was killing some of these guys, it was impossible to tell how much of an effect he had, and equally difficult to tell how well the rest of the squad was doing against them.

It took only a few seconds of this stalemate for Price to call for support. "Hammer Two-Four. We've got tangos on the second floor."

The helicopter pilot quickly acknowledged the call. "Copy. Engaging."

Despite the fact that it took literally seconds for the helicopter to arrive, to Soap it felt like it took forever. There were just far too many bullets in the air heading for him, and - SHIT!

[The controller shook in Ruby's hands, the sides of the screen becoming covered in red. Part of her wanted to drop the controller in surprise. The other wanted to be pissed that 'her' color was being used as a danger sign. All she knew for sure was it seemed to get worse as she got hit, and since there was no way for the man she controlled to 'dodge' that fire, all she could do was hunker down.]

That was far too close for comfort. Thankfully, the helicopter arrived just then, and began to tear the enemy horde to shreds. The pilot barely bothered to aim, he just hovered then sprayed, drawing a line in the corridor and cutting down anyone stupid enough to stand. Anyone who wasn't killed in the instantaneous wall of gunfire probably ran inside the ship, setting up defensive positions that weren't touchable by aircraft-mounted gatling guns.

[Yang: Oh come on, we could have taken 'em!

Weiss: After taking hits like that, probably a good time to call for the help that's 'already there'.

Yang: But the wounds are healing in 'seconds'!

Blake: Would 'you' want to test how many seconds of sustained fire you could take?

Yang: Yes!

Weiss:..I don't know where to start with you.]

"Bravo six, Hammer's at bingo fuel. I'm buggin' out. Big Bird will be on station for evac in ten."

[Ruby: Hey, is it just me, or does the helicopter pilot have a different accent than the other guys we're fighting with?

Weiss: No, he's definitely got a different accent. So..what? Is from somewhere else, or was this a bit of laziness from whoever's in charge of voices?]

With the threat neutralized, the squad got on the move once more, with Price giving further directions. "Copy Hammer. Wallcroft, Griffen, cover our six. The rest of you, on me."

Soap wasn't sure how or when, but Gaz was right in front of him. "Roger that."

Stacking up in front of the door, the four remaining members of the squad took a moment to prepare themselves for entering the cargo hold. Gaz in particular holstered his MP5 and drew a shotgun from his back. "I like to keep this for close encounters."

[Yang: Hey, why does he get to choose what guns he comes with and we can't?

Ruby: Honestly? Did you 'remember' how many different guns were in that armory? How long do you think I'd take to make that kind of decision? I'd grab each and every one, test them on the firing range, dismantle them, probably try to combine several features into one gun, and..well, we had to leave at a scheduled time early in the morning. Maybe it's 'better' they didn't give us a choice.

Yang: Yeah, that's you, but 'anyone' else would have picked a gun pretty quickly. If we have that many options, why don't we actually have a choice?!]

"Too right, mate."

Price grabbed the wheel on the door, turning it about sixty degrees. "On my mark.."

Then he opened the door. "Go! Check your corners."

Soap trailed behind the others, staying nice and crouched as they moved through the halls. No need to go rushing through an area like this. There was literally no cover to hide behind, the most you could do was stay at a corner and occasionally duck behind it, hoping the enemy didn't do something clever like send anyone down an alternate path to try hitting you from multiple angles.

Price sounded a little annoyed as he growled out, "Check those corners!"

[Ruby: It looked like everyone was looking.

Weiss: Nobody said 'anything', so if someone popped up to shoot them, who's at fault?

Blake: I think someone wrongly saying something's clear is worse than nobody saying anything. The second keeps you on your toes, even if it's inaccurate. But someone shooting at you from somewhere you thought was secure? Now 'that' is annoying.]

Soap didn't really pay attention to what turns they took, he just kept an eye out for targets while keeping relatively close to the rest of the squad, occasionally looking behind them just to be sure the enemy wasn't about to try something clever. It didn't take them long to reach a set of stairs, and start going deeper into the ship.

"Movement right."

[Ruby: What movement? I don't see anything other than pipes.

Blake: False alarm?]

It wasn't until he got to the absolute bottom of the series of stairs that Soap saw the enemy. Two rushing right at him, what looked like a pair taking cover at a distant corner..and Soap was right in the open. Bloody predictable. Still, he was quicker on the trigger, bringing down the two charging in an instant. It was hard to tell who got the other two in the hail of gunfire after, but regardless, the enemy was dead and nobody on Soap's squad was touched. That was good enough for him.

They quickly moved past the bodies and took a left. As he turned right just to make sure they were clear, Soap noted he'd miscounted. Five enemies in that last fight. Not that it really mattered he'd miscounted, it's not like they were here to kill absolutely everyone on the ship. They were only killing these guys because they happened to be in the way.

"Stand by, on my go."

It was a good thing Price told them to stand by, because the enemy started shooting at the open door they'd reached. None of the shots had a chance to hurt anyone on the squad, but it was still a little intimidating to see. Soap kind of wanted to suggest taking they other door across the hall. If the enemy was paying so much attention to this one, then the other should be easier to get through.

[Ruby: I'm just saying, split the team, hit them from two directions. Considering how generally easy it is to get killed around here, that seems like the smart thing to do, just spread the hurt around as quickly as possible.

Weiss: And 'I' am saying how they're doing things is better. Staying together as much as they can. Concentrated firepower is better than scattered, random strikes.

Ruby: I'm not talking about random, completely unplanned fighting. I'm talking planned out, skilled hits from multiple directions! We've been tearing through these guys pretty easily and haven't taken a single casualty yet!

Weiss: So you think it's a good idea to just test your luck until it finally breaks?!

Ruby: What are you complaining about? Remember how we killed that Nevermore at initiation? Was it when we all tried shooting it at once, or when each of us did different things to accomplish the same goal?

Yang: Great..another argument. That makes..how many for Weiss today?

Blake: Four. Five if you include the..spirited debate she had with Pyrrha during history class.

Yang: Yeah, she gets on enough people's nerves in a week to make you wonder if she 'wants' to get the spit slapped out of her. Place your bets, how long until someone actually snaps and does it?

Blake: Honestly? I was expecting either you or Ruby to snap after our first day of classes, so I've already lost the bet.]

However, Price wasn't the type to even consider doubling back if possible, he just prepped a flash-bang, threw it, and then gave the order. "Go."

It was felt a little unfair whenever someone threw a flash-bang into a room. Sure, pragmatism demanded absolutely any tool for victory be used, and to never give the enemy a chance, but on the other hand, there was that little voice in your head that always claimed you could do it without having to stun the enemy first. By the time he entered the cargo room, the last man was down..at least, the last visible man. A place like this, there's always plenty of hiding spots.

"Got you covered, move up."

The squad pushed forward, going across the room. Gaz set himself up against a container. "Forward area clear."

Considering how the various containers were set up in here, that felt a little premature. It's like whoever put the cargo down wanted to make as many blind spots as possible, making sure there was enough room to maneuver while removing as much visibility as possible. It was almost enough to make you wonder why they bothered making sure every light bulb worked down here. Why not make it even more inconvenient to see? Which reminded Soap that their gas masks didn't have any kind of night vision..maybe they should have grabbed one of the flashlights from outside just to be safe.

As Soap slowly went from behind everyone to being the point man once again, there was no warning when the man jumped from behind a corner, finger on the trigger and gun ready to fire. He didn't have time to consider his options, all he had was instinct. Thoughtless, heartless instinct saved his life as he closed the very short distance and shoved his combat knife into his enemy's crotch.

[RWBY: OOOH!

Yang was probably the only person amused by that. "That was totally awesome!"

Blake stared at Ruby with wide eyes, jaw about as slack as it can get. "Okay..remind me never to surprise you."

At that, Ruby sputtered, "Wait, I didn't mean to stab him in the..he just popped up out of 'nowhere', you know? I was staring right down his muzzle! And, well, if I tried shooting him before he shot me, I probably wouldn't have had time to aim, and if I didn't have time to aim, well, it's just as likely he'd be standing and we'd be dead, or maybe we'd both go down since we don't seem to have an aura, but maybe the whole fast healing thing would have let us survive. Anyway, he was just so close, and I was taught to always use Crescent Rose's scythe whenever danger got to a certain range, and it just..translated to hitting the knife button here. If I'd 'known' it'd shove a knife into..ugh!"

Weiss just stared at the screen with a strange, kind of scary sense of appreciation. "Well, it certainly worked. He's not getting up again."

Yang's laughter somehow got even 'louder'. "Oh yeah, definitely not, even if he somehow survived! 'How was work today honey?' 'Some guy in black stabbed me in the dick.' 'Aw hell, and I had so many ideas for what we were gonna do when you got back. Now what?'"

Considering the way Yang was doubled over in unrestrained laughter and Weiss's shoulders were shaking as she held in her own amusement in, Ruby felt very justified shifting away from them. It's not like Blake was going to complain, she'd moved from the cushion to the arm rest mid-way through Yang's little act.]

If anyone gave a damn how he brought the surprise assailant down, no one mentioned it. The squad just pushed forward to the next door. "Gaz, right side."

"I'm on it."

"Stack up."

"Ready sir."

Price didn't even bother turning the handle, he just kicked it open. Stairs to the left, a poor view of the room to the right that seemed clear, but more trouble than it was worth to get down to ground level from there. Stairs it was, then.

"Movement right." Great, a trio of enemies on the catwalk on the other side. The squad opened fire, moving as they went and trying to use the tops of cargo containers as cover as they went. Soap didn't move far, sticking near the staircase, getting annoyed trying to hit just 'one' of them. It took a little over half his clip to finally take the closest bastard down. Bloody hell, they should have drilled how to hit distant targets with MP5s..granted, the enemy's long range aim was even worse, but that was no excuse. Moving forward a bit, bringing down a second target, he reloaded. With his current accuracy, six bullets probably wasn't going to touch the third guy. Right, fresh clip inserted, two hundred and sixty one bullets left in reserve.

[Yang: Anyone else wish we had a game character's insane amount of ammo in our pockets when we go out?

Blake: Not really, no.

Weiss: I'm perfectly fine with my usual ammo supply, thank you.

Ruby: I've been meaning to increase the magazine size of Crescent Rose from twenty-eight to thirty, but otherwise no. I'm pretty okay with the amount of spare ammo I usually bring.

Yang: Oh come on, just think about it. Being able to just unload an obscene amount of ammo into any target you wanted, turning them into gory bits!

Blake: Even if I 'could' carry that much, and even 'if' my ammo could do that much damage to a target, too expensive.

Weiss: A proper application of Dust is already overkill, and I'd like to keep a good reserve on standby.

Ruby: Crescent Rose is a 'sniper', not a 'machine-gun'. Pumping obscene amounts of ammo into the target is not the point..and it's not like Ember Celica has an auto-fire option.

Yang:..still would be fun..]

The third man ran down a set of stairs, forcing Soap to move further forward to join up with the rest of the squad if he wanted to keep causing damage. Just two men on the ground floor, some quick shooting from on the catwalks dealt with them. As he reloaded, a man popped from behind a crate, apparently trying to retreat, and the rest of the squad cut him down.

"Forward area clear."

"Move!"

Getting down the stairs and across the room was no problem, everyone left in the room was dead. Unfortunately, the door to the next was wide open, and Soap took a round in the shoulder before he could do much of anything. As the rest of the squad stacked up at the door, and Price tossed in a flash-bang, he rolled his shoulder to make sure he wasn't hurt too bad. Once the flash went off, Soap was the first one through, sticking by a crate right in front of the entrance and shooting every unfortunate man who got in his sights. Three directly ahead on ground level, two of whom were still stunned by the grenade when they died. One on a catwalk on the left side, trying to use the top part of a cargo container for cover. Awkward as it was to get him in the head, or the upper torso from this range, his foot was just barely in sight. A bullet to the kneecap sent him sprawling forward, which left a much larger target for Soap to finish off.

In the ensuing chaos, it was hard to tell where the enemy was, all he could see were two of his squadmates, all he could tell was that bullets were flying and he was taking some hits. Right. Take cover. Reload. Wait his heart to stop 'hurting' every time it pumped blood and for the red to disappear. Stand back up, look for more targets. The squad had ground level dealt with, but someone on the catwalks was giving Gaz some trouble. Again, he was using a cargo container for cover, but he was covered from the rest of the squad. Not Soap, a good two meters behind the others. Easy kill, it was almost comical how his head smacked against the very thing he thought was protecting him.

Right, all that was left were some bastards on the other side of the room on ground level. Awkward to hit from his current position, but he was equally hard to hit. Two down despite their damn good cover. A third made a run for it and paid with several bullets up the ass. Time to move forward. Huh, guy just crouched out in the open. Sure, Soap couldn't have seen him in his previous position, but he'd have thought the others would have taken care of him. Oh well, caught him while he was reloading. Find some cover, reload, and push forward some more.

Though by that point, the last of the enemies was dead. "Tango down."

Price wanted to be absolutely sure, though. "Report. All clear?"

Gaz responded less than a second later. "Roger that. All clear."

Turning off his radio, not bothering to whisper anymore..assuming there was a need to in the middle of the firefight, Gaz continued. "I'm getting a strong reading, sir."

[Yang: A strong reading from what? Is there some kind of fortune telling technique that involves dead people?

Weiss: Well, there used to be a story about a Grimm's disintegrating corpse could tell you something about the Hunter that killed it, but that was debunked.]

Soap had nearly reunited with the rest of the group when Gaz opened one of the containers, "You might want to take a look at this."

Price raised his mask to get a clearer look, mumbling, "Hm..it's in Arabic."

[Blake: What's that symbol on that crate in there?

Weiss: I don't know..yellow background, three black almost-triangles around a dot, the third point on each triangle cutting off just before they meet..certainly eye catching.]

A little louder, Price gave his report through the radio. "Base Plate, this is Bravo Six. We've found it. Ready to secure package for transport."

[Yang: It's gonna be awkward carrying something that big from down here up to the deck. Especially if there's anyone left to fight.]

Base Plate's answer wasn't all that encouraging. "No time, Bravo Six. Two bogies headed your way fast, grab what you can and get the hell out of there."

[Weiss: Oh there's no way they're taking something that big that far 'fast'.]

Gaz sounded legitimately concerned. "Fast movers, probably MIGs, we'd better go."

Price was as calm as ever. "Soap, grab the manifest in the container. Move!"

[Ruby: Moving! But what's a "mig"?]

Grabbing the clipboard and paper on top of the package, Soap didn't waste time and started sprinting after the rest of the squad as Price said, "All right. Everyone topside, double time! Wallcroft, Griffen, what's your status!"

One of the others responded. "Already in the helicopter sir! Enemy aircraft inbound! SHIT! THEY'VE OPEN FI-"

And that's when everything glowed orange, the ship rocking from the explosion, and Soap fell flat on his back.

[Yang: Okay, that went from fine to fucked in 'seconds'!

Weiss: Whatever's in that box, they 'really' don't want us to have it.

Blake: Wha..they're killing they're own men?!

Ruby: Well, considering how many we killed to get down here..

Blake: But still! They could have sent their own insertion team to counter ours!

Weiss: We don't know the time frame for when they were sent out, or how long it would take for reinforcements to arrive. Maybe this was just the faster option?

Blake: Great, for the sake of doing things faster, they're killing some of their own guys and making sure 'no one' gets whatever's on that ship. What kind of cargo prompts this kind of response?!]

"Bravo Six? Come in. Bravo Six, what's your status?" It was understandable that Base Plate was concerned. Soap was barely sure he'd survived that attack run.

Gaz struggled to get to his feet while Soap just writhed for a moment in sheer agony, the world shifting from clear to hazy to black to hazy to clear over and over again in quick succession. "Shit! What the hell happened!"

It was impossible for Soap to get any bearings on what was going on, though strangely his ears could catch every sound perfectly, could hear as Gaz realized their situation. "The ship's sinking! We've got to go! Now!"

"Bravo Six, come in damnit!"

Price got to his feet and rushed towards Soap, yelling into the radio, "Big Bird, this is Bravo Six, we're on our way out!"

He then pulled Soap to his feet and yelled right into his face, somehow shaking the cobwebs off his subordinate with the sheer authority in his voice. "On your feet soldier! We! Are! Leaving!"

[Blake: I don't know what it is about the way he said that, but wow. I think I felt some adrenaline go through my veins there.

Weiss: The dramatic music in the background doesn't hurt, either.]

Once Soap was on his feet, Price and the others started running like hell, and Soap tried his best to keep pace. Soap had the distinct feeling he'd dropped his guns when he fell, but considering the current circumstances, they weren't worth going back for. "Get to the catwalks! Move, move, move!"

[Ruby: Don't need to tell me twice!

Yang: He told you three times.]

Gaz apparently felt the need to say, "Move your asses, go!"

[Ruby: I'm going as fast as I can! For some reason, the whole sprint thing isn't working right now!

Yang: Well that sucks.]

Things somehow managed to get even worse when they got to the catwalk. The ship shook again, possibly from another attack but regardless of cause, the result was a massive spray of water right in front of them, and a section of hull falling to the ground, and everyone falling to one knee.

Not quite frantic but still demanding urgency, Price yelled out, "Back on your feet! Let's go!"

Sections of hull falling all around them, feeling the ship listing to the left, it was easy to imagine this place becoming their grave as Gaz yelled, "Watch your head! Go, go, keep moving!"

[Yang: Really? Keep moving? I was thinking of staying, I haven't had a good, solid swim in a long time.

Blake: Even strong swimmers prefer 'not' to be right on a sinking ship as it goes down. It has a tendency to bring a lot of the surrounding water down with it.]

"It's breaking away!"

"Come on, come on!" Ironically, just as Price yelled that, Soap felt his leg get stuck on one of the railings. It didn't last long, he got free in less than a second, but in that second, he fell a 'very' worrying distance behind the rest of the squad. Remembering how his more embarrassing run through the CQB went, he burst forward, hoping to hell 'this' little screw up wouldn't cost him.

Once off the catwalk, struggling to keep pace with the others, the hallway was in even worse condition than the cargo hold. Directly ahead was a wall of water that seemed to be building up quickly, the various pipes bursting and speeding along the process of filling the ship with water.

"Talk to me Bravo Six, where the hell are you?"

[Blake: In a vision of hell.

Yang: You afraid of water or something?

Blake: No, just drowning in general.]

"Stand by, we're almost there!"

[Weiss: 'Almost there'. How specific.

Ruby: It's not like the helicopter 'knows' how the ship is set-up, or like we know what this particular section of the ship is called.]

"Which way?! Which way to the helicopter!"

[Blake: First you've got to finish going up those stairs, and then..]

"To the right! To the right!"

[Weiss: Yes, two right turns. And there's the door to the deck.

Blake: And it just happens to be facing downward..into the water.]

"We're running out of time! Come on, let's go!"

It would probably feel a lot less unnerving exiting the listing ship if they weren't in a rather fierce storm, the waves smashing onto the deck, seemingly speeding the process along. It was a wonder any of them had any footing at all.

"Keep moving!"

Gaz then yelled in frustration the very thing on everyone's minds. "Where the hell is it?!"

And of course, as if written by someone who'd seen a lot of Hollywood movies, the Chinook helicopter arrived, spinning so its open rear was against the deck. Every second, though, it looked a little bit further away. As everyone on the squad scrambled aboard, Soap felt himself wondering if his few seconds of stumbling with a railing would end him here, just as safety was in sight. By the time he arrived, it looked barely in reach.

Gaz screamed out, "Jump for it!"

And Soap did, leaping the furthest he'd ever managed in his life, hands desperately trying to grasp onto 'something' and failing. Quickly slipping out, Price turned around just in time to see what was happening and grab onto him. "Gotcha!"

[Ruby: Thank you for that Captain Price! That was 'pretty' close!]

"We're all aboard, go!" Staring at the ship as it sunk, feeling himself collapse as all adrenaline died down, Soap remembered an old saying. Your first day on the job is a good indicator of how the rest of your time there will go. Well, this was his first day in Bravo Six..what did that tell him?

"Roger that. We're outta here. Base Plate, this is Big Bird. Package secured, returning to base. Out."

[As the title screen popped up, reminding the player that they were in Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare, Weiss was the first to speak. "Well, that's one way to grab the audience's attention. Don't really answer any questions, just put them through a harrowing experience right from the start and they'll stick around for more!"

Blake let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding in those last frantic seconds of seeing the player character clawing at the aircraft's surface in desperation. "Well, still don't know if we're supposed to be the good guys. At the very least, though, I'm kind of liking that Gaz character, and good god does Price have a presence."

Ruby giggled a moment. "Yeah, I was kind of iffy about him at first, but when he did the whole grabbing and yelling in our face thing..he really cares about his squad, even the guy he hasn't gotten to know yet, and he seems so..controlled, even when absolutely nothing is in his control!"

Yang sent a look to Blake, smiling. "So, this worth sticking around for?"

Snorting a little in humor, Blake replied, "It's a little early to say, but..it's caught my attention. So long as it turns out we're not the villains, I'll stick around for the whole thing."]

* * *

Closing notes: So, this is my longest chapter so far. Any thoughts? Opinions? Questions? I'll try to get the next one out some time this week, but it's hard to say how much I can write on any given day, or how long a chapter feels like it can go until I reach a good stopping point. For now, this is the Blue Demon of Fire, signing off.


	8. Chapter 8

Opening Notes: Right, considering the fact that this next bit isn't a mission, more of a cutscene that happens to let you control the camera to a degree, part of me feels a little guilty since we're only going to 'see' this glorified cutscene in this chapter. On the other hand, handling it is going to be..difficult. Dear god, as much as I really like her, the fact of the matter is she's got the 'biggest' emotional minefield of the team. If we went through Final Fantasy 7? The opening bit being a terrorist attack on an energy company that seems to favor robotic security would set her off. Anything superhero related? The masks would set her on edge. Though to be fair, this next bit will set off Ruby's need to be the hero, and will shake the other two at least a little, so it's not really her fault.

Since in the game, the speech in the background is in Arabic with subtitles, we're going to use italicized text to signify Al-Asad's speech. Anyway, let's get this started.

* * *

Chapter 8

Heroes Can't Be Everywhere

As the screen went through the whole map thing again, Blake debated with herself if it was a good idea for her to drink 'anything' alcoholic. On the one hand, she was having a hard enough time keeping a lid on her emotions due to the thoughts this game had brought to the surface so far. On the other, she was usually better at controlling herself, but the combination of trying to find a new direction to her life in Beacon, the constant strain of trying to keep her secret even from the people she shared a dorm with, various news stories of what the White Fang was doing, and just the generalized pressures everyone went through when at this stage of trying to become a huntress were making her one big pile of nerves.

So really, she felt justified in asking for one of the beers from the fridge, and unlike Yang, she didn't add anything to give it any flavor. She just wanted to relax 'somehow', and since the label said three percent, it was 'very' unlikely she'd get embarrassingly drunk. Hell, she doubted she'd even get buzzed, assuming she'd be tempted to tax their beer supply. This stuff tasted like liquefied cardboard. Yang had mixed her own with a coke and Ruby's with something strawberry flavored. Weiss, of course, was just having water with ice. On any other day, Blake might have let her mind wander about all the possibilities for why Weiss was the only one who wasn't grabbing any beer. But today..Blake just didn't have it in her.

The map on screen zoomed into a city near a continent's coast, the ground tan. It certainly looked like an arid, unpleasant place to live, but then, the living conditions at Beacon were probably spoiling her a little. The camera seemed to be following a lone vehicle on the road.

["Car is inbound."

"Continue tracking."]

That second voice caught Blake's attention. "Huh, sounds like Base Plate is paying attention to things here, too. While it's probably not the best frame of reference, isn't this a little far away for the same force to be operating in?"

Weiss hummed with interest. "Well, considering the electronic nature of the map, and the way it seems to be able to get some pretty good local surveillance from above, and assuming they don't have to worry about the Grimm or anything similar, a government could easily commit to operations just about anywhere so long as they could logistically support it."

Ruby almost cautiously asked, "But..aren't we supposed to be with Soap and his team? Are they somehow going to go from that ocean all the way over to this city?"

Blake shrugged. "They're probably just changing the perspective for one reason or another. Maybe we'll learn more about the people we're fighting for, or the ones we're fighting against."

And that's when the camera flew into the head of a man being dragged by two guards, and they got a 'very' intimate view of what the main characters were fighting against.

* * *

President Al-Fulani..well, ex-president at this point, didn't know what had sapped the energy out of him more. Several hours of being the punching bag of several punks who thought they were tough just because they were in a uniform and had some guns, or just the speed in which things become completely hopeless for him. Hell, even if he 'did' have the strength to run, it wouldn't do him any good. Not with this many armed men around, and not when some of them had dogs at the ready. As if to hammer home just how complete this coup was, the national flag had changed to a red banner with a pair of golden scimitars crossed underneath a small golden star.

It wasn't an uncommon thing, really. A charismatic man capable of rallying a crowd pointed at some less than popular foreign countries like the United States, throws in some domestic "collaborators", frequently the previous government, and things just..settle themselves from there. If he'd had an idea things would devolve this quickly, what would he have done? Left the country to save himself? Or tried to stop Asad from gaining power? Well, it didn't really matter anymore. That sort of thinking would only kill time..and he had precious little of that left.

He could practically hear Asad's speech, the man had repeated the same inflammatory rhetoric long enough.

" _Today, we rise again as one nation, in the face of betrayal and corruption!_ "

[Yang: Never really got the whole "speaking another language" thing in movies and games. If it needs to be said, why not just say it so everyone knows what he's saying?

Weiss: They are. Hence the subtitles.

Yang: If I want to read, I'll grab a book. It just seems pretty pointless to me to throw a fake language at us just to set the scene.

Blake: Would you prefer a fake accent?

Yang: Yep, easier to laugh at.

Ruby: I get the feeling there aren't going to be a lot of laughs to be had.]

Practically dragged to a beat-up small yellow car, part of Fulani wanted to know just what model it was. Tossed in roughly, he pushed himself up from the seat, trying to make himself at least a little more comfortable..and he took a rifle-butt to the head for his trouble.

[Ruby: Whoa!

Yang: Okay. He's having a bad day.]

It took a few seconds for him to regain his bearings, certainly long enough for them to shut the door. He didn't even bother to check if it was locked, it's not like he was in any condition to escape anyway. The man who hit him knocked on the roof of the car to signal the driver to get moving, a Russian in a blue tracksuit with a white stripe giving directions. It was a little strange to see someone with an uzi in one hand and a map in the other. Though it wasn't all that comforting when he put the map on the dashboard and turned around to see their new passenger. It was the sort of look one gave to a particularly smelly bit of garbage. The only reason he didn't shoot Fulani himself was probably because he didn't want to deal with disposing of the body.

[Ruby: Whoever taught this guy how to handle guns was an idiot. Seriously? Don't put your freaking finger on the trigger unless you're about to start shooting! Holding it like that is just asking for it to go off when you don't mean to!]

The car began to move, moving all too fast through the narrow roads and avoiding the various ruined cars around them. Some of the fires had yet to stop burning, and it was hard to say if this depressing sight was the cause of the new regime, or the few people who fought to protect the old one.

" _We all trusted this man to deliver our great nation into a new era of prosperity._ "

Soldiers jogged single file on the right side of the car, looking pretty relaxed. Either they felt what they were being sent to what they felt was an easy job, or were going back to base to call it a day. There were around half a dozen men standing near a fork in the road where those men jogged from, some of them shooting in the air in celebration, so either explanation felt just as valid. The man in blue quickly tapped the driver and pointed to the left, the same direction an armored vehicle was going.

[Yang: I'd argue the way he gave the driver directions was even 'less' safe than the way he holds his gun. Really? Poking him for attention and pointing? Why not just tell him "take a left here"?

Blake: Maybe they don't speak the same language?

Yang: Why wouldn't they?!

Blake: I don't know, but considering how 'different' from everyone else the guy in blue is, he's probably not from this city.

Ruby: Anyone have any idea what that thing in front of us is?

Weiss: Not a clue. All I know is it has armor.]

Whatever the vehicle in front of him was, it was barely able to fit the small roads. As their car followed it pretty closely, the man in blue had a short, whispered conversation on the phone and took a glance at Fulani as if to confirm something. He couldn't really pay much attention to that, though. Something else caught his eye to the left. A pair of soldiers were breaking into someone's hold, shooting the door a few times before kicking it down.

" _But like our monarchy before the Revolution, he has been colluding with the West with only self-interest at heart!_ "

Quickly turning to look ahead, there was far too much going on at once for him to keep track of, so he just let his eyes stick with the vehicle ahead, and was surprised to see people running right behind it. If they were trying to escape the army, they weren't doing a very good job of it. They were probably going to run right into a checkpoint before they could even try to evade the way they were sprinting. Not that it really mattered. The poor bastards were shot down one by one with assault-rifle fire, and while Fulani tried to see exactly what was going on, it was hard to get a good angle. It wasn't a matter of he 'needed' to see what was happening to these people, it's just that when all you can do 'is' watch, you can't help yourself. You just have to try getting as clear a picture of the surrounding hell around you as you can.

[Blake: Holy..

Ruby: Th..they're just..gunning them down! 'Why'?!

Weiss:..eliminating possible resistance?

Ruby: They're completely unarmed and just running! How are they 'resisting'?!

Weiss: I don't know, it's not like I've studied what makes people resort to this kind of brutality!

Yang: Nothing could 'possibly' justify this kind of crap!]

Gunfire in front of the car now, a man stumbling over a trash can as he ran past the car with little to no sense of where to run to, just so long as he evaded the people shooting at him at that particular moment. The driver and the man in blue didn't give any of the violence surrounding them any attention at all, a terrifying level of disinterest as they calmly drove on. Eventually, they were behind a truck serving as a troop transport. Again, Fulani had to wonder where those troops were headed, even if it didn't really matter..and once the truck turned and cleared the line of sight, he saw something that made him feel sick, even beneath the haze of hopelessness.

People were being lined up against walls, some of them dragged away and choked. While the ones being strangled were certainly flailing around as much as they could while the soldiers pinned them to the ground, the rest were just standing at the wall, terrified, praying they wouldn't be killed as well.

" _Collusion breeds slavery! And we shall not be enslaved!_ "

A little further ahead, dead bodies were being searched by the soldiers, and what few innocent people in this group were left tried struggling against the soldiers. Tried, but they were simply beaten down a little before the strangulation began.

[Weiss: Wha..they..they're even killing the people who AREN'T resisting?!

Yang: What the fuck! Does the guy making that speech even 'know' what's going on all over the place right now?!

Blake: I doubt he cares. They've fallen into a 'very' dangerous mindset. It's 'worse' than "you're either with us or against us". This is just "you're either one of us or an enemy".]

There was a small sprout of hope in Fulani less than a block later. A small group of people, three ununiformed and determined youths, had somehow managed to get their hands on guns and were shooting at an unseen group of soldiers. That hope was quickly dashed, though, when they were taken down in 'seconds'. They had been shooting out in the open, with no cover. They had probably never held a gun before in their lives, and hadn't managed to hit any of their attackers as they made their desperate stand, and while the coup forces weren't anywhere near an elite military force, they were still leagues better than less than a handful of spontaneous, untrained and inexperienced freedom fighters.

Another armored vehicle ahead blocked the road ahead, as it unloaded more troops into the area, and the car took a left into an ally. About a third of the way through, someone had been spray-painting Fulani's image on a wall. It looked complete to Fulani, and if anything, it looked better than he felt at the moment. He'd have probably thanked the skilled graffiti artist if he could, but understandably, the man had sprinted out of the ally the second he noticed the car, not bothering to look and see who was in it. Considering how many people were being killed all over the city, it was rather understandable.

" _The time has come to show our true strength. They underestimate our resolve. Let us show that we do not fear them._ "

[Something caught Blake's ears, something that made her very tempted to start bolting out of the room. "Is..is that barking?"

Thankfully, nobody noticed the shrill tone she'd said that in, or the way she nearly fell of the armrest when she saw the dog on screen.]

At around the halfway point of the ally, when things temporarily widened, another man clambered over a small gate, a Doberman inches away from biting him just before he got to the other side. Was the dog there to kill him, or just take him down so some soldiers could have the pleasure of ending the poor man's life? Regardless, the gate was too high for the dog to get over, which meant the escaping man was safe from that threat at any rate.

" _As one people, we shall free our brethren from the yoke of foreign oppression!_ "

[Blake: Home-grown oppression is no better than external oppression!]

Just as they were nearing the end of the ally, Fulani noticed someone hiding inside a dumpster, probably one of the best hiding places in the city right now. Assuming the driver was as inattentive as he looked, then maybe the man's quick peek to check his surroundings hadn't put himself in danger.

The car turned left as it left the ally, and it looked like even more soldiers were on the streets. As one group pulled a man forcibly out of his jeep, another group had lined up civilians against a wall, lifted their guns, and just unloaded their entire magazines into the poor bastards. They'd been killed by the first few bullets, the other few dozen were just sent into the wall as if to erase the bloodstains.

[Ruby was grinding her teeth together, wishing she could do 'something' about what was going on right now. But no, all she could do right now was just turn her character's head around and watch the insanity. Sure, it was a video game. Sure, those people weren't real and weren't really dying. That didn't do anything about her urge to take Crescent Rose and show these heartless bullies and see how 'they' liked being cut down. These people were monsters, may as well give them the same level of mercy she'd give the Grimm.]

" _Our armies are strong, and our cause is just._ "

[Yang: Sure buddy. If you're army's so strong, fight against people who can genuinely fight back! See what happens!

Ruby: Your cause isn't just, you're just spouting words out to make yourself sound better than you actually are!]

" _As I speak, our armies are nearing their objectives, by which we will restore the independence of a once great nation._ "

[Weiss: Making a speech about freedom while committing atrocities that even the worst tyrants in Remnant's history never would have done. Classy.

Ruby: Well, at the very least this should make Bravo Six's entrance all the more awesome as they save the day.

Blake: Why do I somehow doubt that'll happen?]

The car began to slow down as it drove into a crowd of soldiers, many of whom were shooting into the air in celebration. As it stopped, a pair of soldiers walked to Fulani's door. One practically tore the door off its hinges as he opened it, the other grabbed Fulani and pulled him out. Knowing the effort wouldn't mean a thing but needing to do 'something' other than meekly accept death, Fulani struggled to stay in the car. Almost effortlessly, he was tossed out, and could see the annoyance in the soldier's eyes seconds before he took a boot to the face.

" _Our noble crusade has begun._ "

[Yang: Who do you think is going to jump in to the rescue first? Gaz? Price? Or will control go back to Soap just before things go from bad to good?

Blake: I 'hope' that pretty much anyone will come to the rescue. I 'feel' like nobody's coming, though. Not with how far away their previous mission was.

Yang: Well, it doesn't 'have' to be the squad we know, it could be some other team to the rescue! That Base Plate guy is watching what's happening, that has to mean they've got 'something' in the works!

Weiss: What was even the point of stomping on the guy's head? He's already helpless and surrounded by troops, I don't think another concussion is going to make a difference!]

It was hard to tell how far he was dragged, not when he kept fading in and out of consciousness. When he started gaining his senses again, it felt like he was being dragged down a long tunnel, and was about to step into the light. It wasn't a very comforting light. Several of those flags were all over the place, a crowd all around him that was chanting for his death. At the forefront was a bald, one armed Russian who looked old enough to have seen Sputnik take to the skies. His lone arm gripped Fulani painfully as the old man seemed to inspect him, as if confirming he was indeed the former president. It was probably more for appearance's sake than anything else since the two had never met before, and you could probably just compare his beaten-up face with a picture anyway.

Satisfied with what he saw, he released Fulani's head, letting his head weakly flop around as the guards dragged him to a stake in the center of the crowd. There was blood on it at around head level, showing he wasn't the first person to be killed here. He probably wouldn't be the last public execution, either.

" _Just as they lay waste to our country, we shall lay waste to theirs._ "

As the guards secured him to the stake, Fulani felt a small bit of energy enter his veins. If he was going to die, he'd die with as much dignity as he could muster, and stare down the son of a bitch who intended to kill him to please the crowd. Asad was pretty much done with his speech, walking away from the camera and towards the Russian. The one armed Russian pulled out a magnum and for a very tense second pointed it at Asad's skull, as if to remind the man who was in charge in their relationship.

[Yang: Please shoot this guy!]

Then he flipped the gun, holding it by the barrel and offered it to Asad. Hesitating a moment, Asad grabbed the gun, walked back into view of the camera, and said, " _This is how it begins._ "

[Ruby: If a rescue's coming, now's the time for it to start!]

Time seemed to slow down as Asad walked to Fulani, putting the magnum against the former president's forehead. At this range and with that kind of gun, there was no chance for survival. Still, he did not cower, not now. Fulani just stared into those sunglasses-covered eyes, practically begging the man to just get it over with. The gun was cocked with a smirk, and then the world went black as the bullet ended his life, the loud bang the last thing Al-Fulani would ever hear.

* * *

Yang took a quick look inside the fridge. Yeah, there was absolutely no way they had enough beer if this game was going to be throwing hits like this at them constantly. Holy shit. If she knew it was going to be like this, she'd have either kept her mouth shut or made sure they had a 'lot' better drinks to guzzle down. She'd heard a bunch of people say this series had very simplistic, very predictable stories where the good guy always won and the bad guys were idiots. Either plenty of people lied to her, or they'd somehow forgotten about this installment. Maybe both.

Not wanting to show that she felt this was turning into a big mistake, Yang asked, "So, anyone want to take a break?"

Ruby was just staring at the screen with a slack jaw, completely floored that this game had her as a man who was completely defenseless and was summarily executed with no chance to fight back. Who the hell even 'puts' something like that in a game? Sure, she wasn't all that familiar with this genre of games, but this just felt..what the heck did she just go through? Would the game send 'another' moment like that at her? She had absolutely no response for her sister, because taking a break probably wouldn't let her digest this scene any better than continuing right now.

Weiss was, if anything, fascinated. Something about how that guy's speech went made her think of the sort of rhetoric the White Fang typically had whenever they released something to the public. Given the fact that many of the people in that army were masked, maybe the comparison was intentional. Maybe this would give her some idea how that scum thought, and she could use the revelations to make the Schnee Dust Company better able to handle them. And if she could do so without having to deal with her sister or father, then she'd be able to legitimately gain her own influence in the company, not have to rely on the rest of her family's work to gain loyalty.

So Weiss just said, "Well, the story is certainly caught my interest. Let's see where else it leads."

As for Blake, strangely enough the 'differences' between the White Fang she'd left and the group she just saw in the game made it easier to get some distance. It no longer felt personal because as bad as the White Fang was, they weren't insane enough to execute people on the street who couldn't fight back. They would occasionally 'humiliate' high ranking Schnee executives, or hold them ransom, and they didn't really give a damn about any non-faunus collateral damage, but still. There was extreme and then there was balls-out insane, and this 'really' crossed the line. It was oddly comforting to know as far as the once peaceful organization had fallen, and while she didn't want to be connected with it anymore, that there were depths it hadn't fallen to yet.

"They've got us hooked, let's see how far we can go tonight."

* * *

Closing notes: Yeah, the most awkward part of this was the fact that the only thing the player can do is just look around in this bit. We have just enough control to investigate what's going on around us as the opening credits roll, but otherwise it's pretty much a cutscene where the cameraman gets killed.

Hope you enjoyed how I pulled this one off. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to play some Final Fantasy Crisis Core to wind myself down a little. Dear god, this took a lot of energy out of me.


	9. Chapter 9

Opening Notes: Well, I'd say we've managed to get through the two biggest hurdles of the beginning of Modern Warfare. Yang and Ruby are probably going to feel pretty conflicted throughout, since the good guys are at times morally ambiguous, but still, the villains have definitely shown that they need to get their asses handed to them, and they'll certainly enjoy doing that regardless.

Really, the toughest part about some of the earlier chapters was staying true to Blake because she didn't want to reveal her past, but a lot of what we were seeing hit a little too close to home for comfort. And while she's told 'me' that this will no longer be a factor, I'm a little more iffy. Anyway, this is the first time in this playthrough we're going to have a checkpoint used. Hope it's not too disorienting. The game's classic death quotes will be like so. {" _Content of the quote._ " Person who was quoted}

Anyway, Ruby should enjoy this next bit. There's some sniping, after all.

* * *

Chapter 9

Same Enemy, Different Objectives

Ruby took a nice, long gulp of her drink, savoring the strawberry flavor. It certainly helped her ignore the slight burning sensation the beer along with it caused. Well, maybe burning was overstating it. Compared to the vodka Yang had her try when she was about twelve, this was nothing. Of course, that day kind of turned her off drinking in general, but still, considering how tense she was, forced chemical relaxation would certainly be helpful.

At the very least, this game was letting Ruby forget about the day to day stresses at Beacon for a while. Especially strange since Weiss was one of her biggest forms of stress yet was in the same room as her, not doing anything to drive her up the wall at the moment. It was downright amazing, the silver haired girl 'could' be something other than a harsh task master and very critical teammate.

[Gaz: Captain Price, Al-Asad just executed President Al-Fulani on national television.]

Ruby snorted at that. "Yeah, we noticed."

Yang still seemed a little shaken from the previous mission, if you could call it that. "We had front row seats and everything. Good god, what kind of crazies come up with something like 'that' for the opening credits?!"

[Price: The Americans have plans for Al-Asad, and it's too late to do anything for Al-Fulani. But in less than than three hours, code-name Nikolai will be executed in Russia.]

Twitching at the fact that the horrendous military force was going to be dealt with by a different group, Weiss just had to ask, "Anyone have any idea what 'America' is?"

Humming in affirmation, Blake gave what little information she had. "Well, it's a country that's also referred to as the 'United States', and U.S.A. I don't really read a lot of the military fiction from Strangereal, but from what I 'have' read, America is essentially like Mantle when it comes to military operations. Hard hitting, spending most of their budget on the military, favors drones when their technology allows for it, that sort of thing."

[Gaz: Nikolai, sir?

Price: Nikolai is our informant in the Ultranationalist camp. He supplied the intel on the cargo ship operation.]

Weiss seemed a little confused. "Strange. I would think the people who killed their former leader and are slaughtering every person they come across would be a pretty high priority."

Ruby shrugged at that, annoyed by that same fact but it wasn't like she could do anything about it. "Well, the game opened up by saying they had two very big issues to deal with in the world. And we can't be in two places at once, so..I guess we're dealing with the 'Ultranationalists' first. At the very least, dealing with the other guys later will probably make it feel more satisfying..though that doesn't change the fact that they're probably going to run out of innocents to slaughter by the time we get there."

[Price: Nikolai's in hell right now. We're going to walk him out. We take care of our friends. Let's move.]

When Soap heard they were heading for the Caucasus Mountains, he was expecting something a good deal more snowy than this. Instead, it looked like he was in the middle of a swamp..then again, it's not like he had a lot of experience with swamps. All he had to go on was how the movies portrayed them, and it was quite possible actual swamps would be a lot worse, and this was just a river that didn't have to deal with a lot of pollution.

Price took a moment to look around before saying, "The Loyalists are expecting us about half a click to the north. Move out."

[Ruby: Someone want to translate 'click'?

Weiss: A click is another way to say kilometer. And before you ask, that's about three thousand, two hundred and eighty one feet, about sixty-two percent of a mile.

Yang: Real handy that we have a living calculator.

Weiss didn't know if that was a compliment or an insult, so she just settled for a long, piercing stare..which would probably have more of an effect if Yang was paying attention.]

As they started jogging forward, Gaz took a conversational tone. "Loyalists, eh? Are those the good Russians or the bad Russians?

Price absently answered, "Well, they won't shoot us on sight if that's what you're asking."

If Gaz wanted to laugh at that, he didn't let it enter his voice. "Yeah, well, that's good enough for me sir."

[Blake: Great, so we're fighting with a group we don't trust in the least.

Weiss: Well, the enemy of my enemy is my convenient ally.

Yang: I thought it was supposed to be friend, not ally.

Weiss: Not in the financial world.]

Not too far forward, there was a man standing on a pier. Considering the fact that they were deep in enemy territory and this wasn't the rendezvous point, Soap felt pretty confident this was an enemy and put two rounds into him. A little to the left, another man was leaning against a car door. He didn't have a chance to react to his friend being blasted. A pair of troops from inside the nearby cabin, however, noticed Soaps kills and rushed out..only to get cut down by Price and Gaz.

Price gave the first bit of genuine praise Soap had ever heard from him. "Good work."

[Ruby: Thank you.

Weiss: Yes, great job. You managed to take down two people who didn't even know they were in danger.

Ruby: Yep, I'm a heavily armed ninja.

For a moment, Weiss wanted to curse Ruby's inability to detect sarcasm. Then she mentally shrugged. That wasn't so much an insult as an attempt to keep Ruby from getting overconfident, and considering where the confidence was, it probably wouldn't be all that harmful anyway.

Blake, however, as a fan of many ninja-related fiction, felt the need to mumble, "You are nowhere 'near' subtle enough to call yourself a ninja."

It was probably a good thing nobody heard her. Even to her own ears, Blake sounded more childish than Ruby 'ever' did.]

"Kamarov and this men will be waiting for us in a field to the northwest."

As he passed by the shack, Soap couldn't help hearing part of a news report talking about the execution of Al-Fulani. While it wasn't that surprising that the Ultranationalists would be interested in the United States' most recent war in the Middle East, it was still kind of peculiar that they were listening to a British newscast of the events. But there was no mistaking the accent on that lady's voice, even if he wasn't paying attention to the content. Why weren't these Russians getting their news from a Russian source? Did they not trust those, or were they more concerned with how the rest of the world viewed events? Hell, did they even speak enough English to understand what she was saying?

Putting those questions aside for now, Soap pushed forward, following the shallow river under a stone bridge. A bridge that tall might have been overkill for a river this small, but to be fair, he didn't know how often this area might flood. Lights in a nearby shack caught his attention, and he turned right, jumping over a small pile of sandbags. Getting just behind an upside-down rowboat, he stared into the cabin and lined up his shot. Price started to say something, but Soap had already killed those two. More enemies in the other shed up the hill. Quickly turning to kill them, he got one..and a second riddled his head with bullets.

{" _In war there is no prize for the runner-up._ " General Omar Bradley}

[Ruby: Wha?! I was behind cover!

Yang: Cover doesn't mean you're safe, cover just means you're a smaller target, and that guy managed to get the smaller target 'plenty' of times. Ah well, no biggie. The checkpoint wasn't that far.

Weiss: And let this be a lesson to you. Don't go too far ahead and try to rush things on your own.]

Getting just behind an upside-down rowboat, he stared at the cabin and line dup his shot, then Gaz whispered over the radio, "Soap, plant some claymores in front of the door, then get their attention."

[Ruby: Claymore? Isn't that a kind of sword? Why do we place a big sword at the door? Wouldn't they notice?

Just based on context, Weiss could tell what it was supposed to mean. She'd gotten far too used to figuring out what devices she didn't initially know of did just by the context they were referred to with. Now, she could have just outright told Ruby what it was..but this somehow felt like it'd be more fun. She made a sadistic little smile that might have disturbed the others if they weren't distracted by the screen. "Well, put one down and see what it does."

Ruby: Okay.]

Maybe he was so eager to please his captain that his brain temporarily shut down. Maybe his training never covered portable mines. Or maybe, just maybe, Soap had something against claymores and was going to commit suicide with one to make a point about how horrible they are. Whatever the reasoning, he placed one down right in front of himself, took the time to stare at it from three different angles..

[Ruby: Still have no idea what this is.

Yang: Looks like a hard pillow with a pair of red lights.

Weiss: Well, walk into the light. See what that does.

By this point, Blake saw enough warning signs to know what it was, and as traps go, that was pretty subtle. If you didn't know what to look for, you'd probably trigger it..and when she glanced at Weiss, saw that shark-esque grin, she caught on to the joke. She had to cover her own mouth to prevent any possible noise that might clue the other two in.]

..and promptly walked into the trigger. His death was quick and painless, and if he hadn't gone into shock immediately, Soap might have stared in wonder at the damage that ensued.

{" _If you can't remember, the claymore is pointed toward you._ " Unknown}

[Yang didn't know what was more shocking. The instantaneous death by..explosive pillow on screen? Or the simultaneous convulsions of very loud humor from Blake and Weiss. Blake was downright cackling, her voice higher pitched than usual, body shaking, and she'd probably be looking at the ceiling if her hand wasn't covering her eyes and forehead. Weiss was doubled over, slapping at her own knee and clearly wanted to say something but couldn't get enough breath in her lungs to say it.

Blake was the first to regain the ability to speak, the amusement still 'very' evident in her voice. "Oh, that was 'amazing'. And even more amazing? It was so 'surprising' to you two!"

When Weiss finally managed to get enough control to speak, she still had to pause a little due to her remaining laughter. "Th..the look on Ruby's face was 'priceless'! Really? Someone so obsessed with weapons never considered it might be a 'mine'? And I think Yang 'jumped' in that explosion!"

Yang felt herself start to smile. "Well of 'course' I didn't see it coming, setting up mines is such a 'pussy' tactic!"

Blake's barely restrained, heated "what" was certainly unexpected, but it didn't slow Yang down in the least. "Seriously, what's more awesome? Charging into a room with guns blazing and taking down a large crowd of baddies, or tricking some poor sap to run into a bomb?"

Blake quickly shot back, "If there's a way to take enemies down that doesn't involve charging right into the midst of them, take it. It's just practical. Your way is like you're 'asking' to take unnecessary hits."

Before Yang could throw a playful retort, Ruby said, "Okay, let's just see how this goes when I use the bomb."]

Getting just behind an upside-down rowboat, he stared at the cabin and line dup his shot, then Gaz whispered over the radio, "Soap, plant some claymores in front of the door, then get their attention."

Sneaking to the right of the boat, crouched and moving slowly so he wouldn't make much noise, Soap slowly approached a set of stairs leading to the open door he'd aimed his gun at. Slowly approaching the door, the second he saw the shadow of one of the men inside, he placed a claymore and started backing away. Now, how to get their attention..ah, a man was just outside a cabin further up, leaning back in his chair. Hell, it wouldn't be a surprise if the man was asleep. Well, he wouldn't be waking up anytime soon.

Getting his assault rifle out again, Soap blasted the poor bastard on the chair. Men inside both cabins reacted with alarm, and dashed out to deal with the threat..and one dashed out and got slaughtered by the claymore. Another came from the right, probably from a different door of the same cabin. Price took him down in a short hail of gunfire. Two more from the other cabin, Soap caught one in the chest while Gaz finished the last one off.

[Ruby: Okay..that was certainly pretty good.

Yang: Eh, you could have taken 'em.

Blake: It's probably better we don't push our luck. Not when it's so easy to be taken down.]

Moving past the cabins, the squad moved through a one story abandoned house. Based on the hole in the roof, it was pretty understandable no one was living here anymore, though certainly less understandable that there was no furniture and there were barely any floor boards. Sheesh, it doesn't matter how poor a family is, if they can afford tiles on the bathroom and kitchen floor, why leave the rest of the place bare? Or did the previous residents honestly grab pretty much every piece of furniture and a good deal of flooring when they left?

Price cautiously opened the exit in the small kitchen, revealing a small field with an abandoned pick-up truck and a bulldozer. Based on the tall grass and wild flowers, it was doubtful either had been used in a long time. There wasn't even a hint of tire tracks or treads on the ground.

Price paused a moment, taking a look around. "Gaz, you smell that?"

Gaz didn't even bother to slow down. "Yeah. Kamarov."

Moving to the center of the field, the squad saw a man walk out of the bushes, holding his gun above his head with one hand and no finger anywhere near the trigger to signify he wasn't a hostile. Price raised a hand, gesturing the squad to hold their fire.

[Weiss: Huh, nice hiding spot.

Blake: There are a couple of others I can see hiding in the grass. Pretty impressive, actually.

Yang: Oh bull, you don't see others hiding. It's all pixilated grass!]

The new man, Kamarov, said rather conversationally, "Welcome to the new Russia, Captain Price."

He then gestured with his free hand, and around half a dozen men stood up. It was hard to say what they were thinking as they stared at the British soldiers that had come to support them. Maybe they were disappointed that so few had come to help, maybe they resented foreigners entering their civil war for any reason, or maybe they just didn't give a damn.

[Yang:..okay, I take it back.

Blake: Damn..more people than I thought I saw. Hard to tell if it's the fact they were well hidden, the graphics somewhat limited, or the fact that Soap's got very bad peripheral vision. Regardless, wow.

Weiss: They could have killed us and we wouldn't have had a chance at all..

Ruby: Well..at least they're on our side..yikes..]

If Price was in any way disturbed by how many men had been hiding, possibly aiming their guns at him and his squad just seconds before, he didn't show it. "What's the target, Kamarov? We've got an informant to recover."

Kamarov gestured to the right, pointing at a hill. "BM-21s on the other side of the hill. The rockets have killed hundreds of civilians in the valley below."

[Weiss: Rockets. They're using..rockets..on civilians. Why?! If you've got rockets, use them on military targets! It just makes more economic sense! Use your tools to deny the enemy the use of various resources and equipment! Don't just toss them at defenseless crowds! It's both insane and wasteful!

Ruby: Well, if both villain groups are civilian killing jerks, that removes a 'great' deal of sympathy I might have had for them.]

As Kamarov gestured for his squad to move out and started to get moving, Price grabbed his shoulder and said, "Not so fast. Remember Beirut? You're with us."

Nodding a moment, the Russian sergeant replied, "Hm..I guess I owe you one."

It would have been nice to know just what event they were talking about. Especially since Gaz growled out, "Bloody right you do."

And with that, everyone started running up the hill. Given how thin the path was, it was almost comical that a little over half a dozen men were trying to run single file while making as little noise as possible. While Kamarov gave an order in Russian to someone else in his squad, possibly his second in command in a different area, the path widened and the incline became a lot less steep. Just how many men 'were' under his command, anyway?

Kamarov returned to speaking english. "This way. There's a good spot where your sniper can cover my men."

[Ruby: Who's the sniper?

Weiss: You are.

Ruby: I meant in the game.

Weiss: So did I. Just check what your second weapon is.]

As Kamarov finished his sentence, Soap switched form his suppressed M4A1 assault rifle to the M21 sniper rifle. Ten rounds per magazine, this was arguably his favorite gun..arguably, since despite his skill with a sniper rifle, Soap didn't seem to get many missions where a sniper would be particularly recommended.

[Ruby: Oh, this looks nice..

Yang: Okay, how did you know the other weapon was a sniper rifle?

Weiss: I thought it was kind of obvious. The way this game seems to have been designed, the player does most of the work for the squad. So unless we were supposed to guard someone else sniping, we had to have one.]

While most of the Russians continued on the path, Kamarov and the SAS squad veered off through the grass, passing by a broken swing set. As they entered another path, it was hard not to notice the sheer number of rockets flying into the air. Dear god, those Ultranationalists weren't kidding around. They were throwing dozens upon dozens of rockets into the distance, and if all of them were for civilian targets..bloody hell. That seemed like such 'overkill'. Just what was the logic behind something like this? Scaring the various villagers to fight for the Ultranationalists? No, that didn't make sense, anyone who survived would either run away or try to join the Loyalists just to get revenge. Whatever the reasoning, they weren't going to rain death on civilians from here for much longer.

The moment Price saw a break in the white wooden fence, he said on the radio, "Sniper team in position. Gaz, cover the left flank."

When Soap got into position, he realized it wasn't so much a break in the fence, it was just that someone forgot to put a second board on that section of fence. As Gaz confirmed his order, Soap took a look down at the village, trying to pick his targets. The only visible enemies were a trio of men just casually walking near one of the rocket launchers. Good a place as any to start.

Kamarov gave his order in English despite the fact that most of his troops were Russian. "All units, commence the attack."

And with that, Soap took down the man in the center, a straight shot to the gut. A series of mortars came down, but Soap wasn't really paying attention, just quickly moving to the next target and offed him before he could react, right through the chest. The third man started to run as all hell broke loose, but he didn't get far before he took a bullet to the ass. Given the lack of motion, he was either dead or unconscious. Either way, on to the next target.

A pair of men were just outside a small house, they certainly looked like easy targets.

Price had other ideas, though. "Soap, take out the machine-gunners in the windows so Kamarov's men can storm the building!"

[Ruby: Huh, somehow didn't notice them.

Blake: To be fair, they only just got to those machine-guns.]

The first one was simple enough to kill, he was clearly visible. The bullet went through his shoulder and out his ribcage on the other side. The second was a little more tricky from this angle, all Soap could see was the machine-gun he was firing from. Still, it was pretty easy to guess where he was. A bullet to his approximate position paused the machine-gun fire, but it resumed a moment later. Damn, not a kill shot. The second shot finished the job.

A stray bullet smacked against Soap's shoulder, surprising him.

[Yang: Shit! Where'd that come from!]

Shrugging it off, he stared down his sniper scope and saw plenty of Russians rushing to get over a small stone wall. Opening fire on them, trying to take down as many as possible, he emptied his clip, only missing once. It didn't feel like he'd actually made a dent in the enemy's counter-attack, though. There were plenty of the bastards. It was hard to hear over all the gunfire and explosions, but the distinctive sound of rotor blades in the air caught his attention.

Kamarov heard it as well. "Damn! Enemy helicopters!"

Price sounded more annoyed than anything else. "You didn't say there would be any helicopters, Kamarov."

The sergeant's response was to the point. "I didn't say there wouldn't be any, either! We need to protect my men from those helicopter troops! This way!"

[Yang: Why do I get the feeling he 'knew' helicopters would be a problem?

Weiss: An attack this blatant would attract a lot of attention. Still, I've got to wonder why these guys were given gunships and those rocket launchers if their main targets are civilians!]

As the squad started moving, Price growled out, "Make it quick, Kamarov. I want that informant."

As they entered a damaged building, Kamarov replied, "You have nothing to worry about. We'll take out the BM-21s and carve a path straight to your informant Captain Price."

[Blake: That..doesn't sound right. I get that the rocket launchers need to be destroyed, but the longer it takes for them to reach the man we're supposed to rescue, the more likely that man will be killed.

Yang: Well, you've got to think that guy probably doesn't care all that much about rescuing one spy in the enemy's ranks when he's got the chance to take out an entire enemy base.]

Kamarov started talking to his squad in Russian, and Gaz quietly said on the radio, "We should just beat it out of him, sir."

[Blake: Great, beat information out of your allies. Who the hell even 'thinks' like that?!

Yang: Well, he's not giving it willingly. Got to get it somehow.]

Price took a moment to consider it. "Not yet."

Mostly Soap just ignored his squadmates' conversation. It didn't matter too much to him what they decided to do about Kamarov having different priorities than them. What mattered was the grassy field in front of them, and the enemies running down the hill. Gaz quickly yelled out, "Sir, we've got company! Helicopter troops closing in fast!"

Quickly getting behind a nearby rock for cover, he tried using his sniper rifle. While he managed to take an enemy down as they rushed from further up the hill, they were starting to get a little too close for his sniper's scope to be anything more than a burden.

[Ruby: Really? You can't adjust the zoom on the scope?!

Weiss: Back to the assault rifle!

Yang: Wait, I thought helicopters were supposed to be gunships!

Blake: It must be a catch-all term for aircraft. Some have guns, some are just troop transports, and some are a mix.]

It was a blur of gunfire, impossible to tell when an enemy was dead or taking cover or even where all the bullets were coming from. While Soap could keep track of when the enemy threw grenades at him, forcing him to sprint between two bits of cover, he couldn't really say how the fight was going, or how long he'd been in it.

A trio of enemies clustered behind an abandoned fridge and dish washer, and Soap felt it was the perfect time to use his gun's attached grenade launcher. His first try overshot by a fair margin, but still managed to take down a lone enemy. Adjusting to compensate for the wind and uneven terrain, Soap quickly loaded another grenade and fired. He got two, but the third had figured out what he was doing and rushed to a very ruined car just ahead. Not the smartest move he could have made, the car didn't have any doors left, so it was easy to get a bead on him and finish him off.

[Yang: Really liking the grenade launcher/assault rifle combo.

Weiss: It certainly feels more versatile than anything else we've seen so far.]

It was hard to say who'd gotten the last of the troops the helicopters had brought to the fight. But just as they were sure the last man had fallen, Kamarov yelled out, "Captain Price! My men have run into heavy resistance! Help me support them from the cliffs!"

Price was clearly aggravated at this point. "What about our informant? He's running out of time."

If anything, that just made Kamarov even more determined to use the SAS squad to support his men. "Then help us! The further my men can get into the village, the closer we will be to securing your informant!"

[Blake: The longer we spend on this all out assault, it'll become even more unlikely that the guy we want will still be alive. They 'were' planning on executing him anyway. I know his priorities and ours don't mesh, but come on!]

Pulling his sniper rifle back out, Soap went to the next vantage point, where Price was giving Kamarov a dark looking glare. Putting aside the argument between his commander and their ally, he noticed an enemy firing an RPG. In less than a second, that man took a bullet to the head. An armored vehicle was headed towards Kamarov's men, and while Soap didn't have the equipment to take it down, he could at least deal with the infantry behind it to take some pressure off the Loyalist troops. Three down, though two had made it up some stairs and were using a house for cover. Too bad for them their cover was completely useless from Soap's angle of attack.

Reloading as he evaluated what target to go after next, Soap noticed a smoke trail leading to a building just under his vantage point. Huh, so the enemy was throwing rockets and sniping Kamarov's men from there and didn't notice the sniper staring at them through the hole in their roof. Well, who was he to deny such a golden opportunity? Three bullets, three new bodies.

Kamarov sounded a bit more relaxed. "Good. Now we are making progress. Follow me to the power station."

While the others rushed up the hill to the next vantage point, Soap gave a few more seconds of support to the Loyalists, shooting the enemy until there weren't any enemies visible from his current position anymore. It was doubtful he'd be giving them sniper support for much longer anyway, may as well make things as easy for his allies as he could in the time remaining.

[Blake: Clock's ticking, Ruby.

Ruby: Really? I don't see any timer or anything like that.

Weiss: Just because there isn't an explicit timer doesn't mean you don't have a reason to hurry.

Ruby: But there's just so many down there and I don't want to let the Loyalist guys down if I can!

Yang: Their own leader told you to move to a different spot. You're not letting them down, just helping them from somewhere else.]

Of course, he had to get moving eventually, and once he got up the hill, he saw Kamarov looking down at the fighting in the village, the relief in his voice making what was about to happen a bit more painful to go through. "Look. The final assault has already begun. With a little more of your sniper support, we are sure to be victorious. Captain Price, I need to ask a favor -"

Whatever that favor was was promptly forgotten when Gaz lost all patience, grabbed Kamarov by the top of his backpack and top of his pants, lifted him about a foot in the air and slammed him against the cement wall overlooking the battleground below. "Enough sniping! Where is the informant!"

[Blake: I don't know if I should be glad Gaz isn't actually beating the information out of him or annoyed that this is supposed to be how allies cooperate around here.

Yang: Well, you were complaining that we needed to save that Nicole guy, and it's pretty easy to see Kamarov doesn't really give a damn about him. Honestly, I think they should hold him over the edge a little, scare him a little more.

Blake: But they're supposed to be on the same side!

Weiss: Same side doesn't mean friends. I'm a little surprised our squad didn't push a little harder sooner.]

Kamarov was spouting something in Russian, a combination of fear and indignation in his voice. Whatever he was saying, Soap didn't understand, and if Gaz did, he didn't give a damn. "Where is he?!"

A little out of breath, the Loyalist sergeant rasped out, "The house..the house at the northeast end of the village!"

[Yang: I don't know..considering how many houses are down there, I don't think that's specific enough.]

That was apparently enough for Gaz, he sounded downright smug. "Well that wasn't so hard, was it? Now go sit in the corner."

Letting the man go, Kamarov just awkwardly sat against the wall while Gaz and Price prepped themselves to repel down into the village. For a moment, Soap checked with his sniper rifle to see if he could clear any enemies out from up here, make it a little easier when they all went down there. Unfortunately, the enemy had gotten wise to his sniping and were shooting from inside the buildings. While technically his rifle could probably tear through those walls and hit them anyway, he'd be guessing if he landed a hit with absolutely every shot. And he had better things to do than guess if he hit someone.

[Ruby: Well, the sniping was fun while it lasted.]

Quickly latching the rappel to his belt and a secure point on the wall, Soap quickly got down into the village with his two squadmates close behind him. Out in the open was a death sentence, bullets from both Loyalists and Ultranationalists flying all over the place from impossible to determine directions. So he veered to the right, deciding to push forward building by building.

The first building he entered was pretty empty, but once he got halfway through, several enemies tried to rush in. Thankfully, there was only one door that way so a steady stream of fire took out the entire group in mere seconds. Quickly reloading, poking his head outside, he finally saw some enemies near a fire straight ahead. He managed to catch three of them, but a fourth got into the building on the right and tossed a grenade into Soap's building. Moving away from the door, going to the left corner, he stared at the approximate place the grenade landed and watched as it uselessly tore through some cardboard boxes.

[Weiss: Shouldn't shrapnel be a danger?

Yang: It's a game. They're not going to make absolutely everything as dangerous as it actually is, especially if we're playing as someone who doesn't have an aura. That would just feel ridiculously cheap.]

He didn't let any curiosity of what was in those things distract him, getting back to the door and opening up on the man in the building. As he moved to the right to stay indoors as much as possible, some Loyalists ran through the open to his left. Well, Kamarov should be pleased, the village was pretty much cleared at this point. Soap had no trouble getting to the other side, and while there was still gunfire and the occasional grenade going off, the fighting was definitely dying down.

As Soap exited the building, he saw Gaz get through a building to his left, leaving just the hill and the distant building on top of it left to deal with. Price quickly said, "Bloody hell, let's move! He may still be alive!"

There was nothing between them and the two story house on top of the hill. At least, nothing other than about forty yards of distance. As much as he hated the cliché, the house seemed eerily quiet, especially since there was still some audible fighting in the distance. Either everyone in that building was already gone, or they were the most inattentive bastards in all of Russia.

If Price was concerned, he didn't show it. He just ran to the front door and got ready to storm the building. "Gaz, go around the back and cut the power. Soap, get ready."

[Blake: Right. If the massive battle with multiple explosions outside didn't rattle them, then cutting the power will.

Yang: Well, hopefully it won't rattle 'em enough for them to kill our guy.]

Standing next to Price, Soap didn't have to wait long for the lights to go out and Gaz's voice to confirm over the radio, "All right, I've cut the power. Go."

Price slowly opened the door, and Soap slowly inched ahead of him into the pitch-black house. It was downright amazing how much darker it was inside than out. Thankfully, they had night vision goggles, so it wasn't much of an issue. As pure darkness turned into a green but still well lit area, Soap saw a man just standing confidently, and even with his limited knowledge of Russian could tell the damn fool was complaining about the electricity going out. Dear god, after all the battle noises outside, why didn't he automatically treat the lights going out as something other than a mild inconvenience? Now 'his' lights were out, permanently.

Price whispered, "These night vision goggles make it too easy."

Advancing through the house, Soap almost went up the stairs but heard a man whispering, holding a hand out in front of him as he blindly tried to navigate through the darkness..this was probably the man that the first guy was talking to, and while he managed to realize something was wrong, it didn't make it any harder for Soap to put him down.

Up the stairs, there was a man panicking, sitting at a corner and pointing his pistol at every little creak he heard. Probably the only reason he wasn't shooting wildly was because he didn't know where his friends were. Ah well, another easy kill.

[Ruby: You know, I kind of agree with Price. If it weren't for the fact these guys have been killing civilians, much less doing it with an 'insane' amount of firepower, I'd probably feel sorry for them.

Blake: Don't feel sorry just because the enemy is less prepared than you are. Besides, it's their fault for being this caught off-guard when the rest of the village was desperately trying to stop us.]

Gaz was moving just outside, and someone must have seen him through a window. A massive storm of gunfire and someone yelling in Russian filled the air. Soap moved forward, putting some bullets through a door to bring down the man firing blindly from behind it. Price took care of another man hiding behind an overturned table.

All that was left was a single room, an unarmed man sitting against the wall and looking rather haggard even from this distance. Cautiously moving towards the room, a bright beam of light turned on, and an enemy walked into view, quickly scanning for targets. Too bad for him that light was like a beacon, making it 'very' easy to zero-in on him, and before the light could shine on Soap, he was riddled with bullets, his flashlight falling so it highlighted the sitting man.

[Ruby: Whew, scared me for a second there.]

Building clear, the squad rendezvoused in that room, Price quickly approaching the unarmed man. While that man asked what was going on in Russian, Price took off his night vision, picked up the flashlight, and took a close look at him. "It's him."

As Price helped him up to his feet, Gaz asked, "Nicolai? Are you alright? Can you walk?"

Voice a little scratchy, the confirmed Nicolai picked up the gun from his fallen guard and said, "Yes, I can still fight. Thank you for getting me out of here."

[Yang: Wow. For some reason I thought he'd be in much worse shape when we got to him, but if he's ready and willing to fight..

Blake: I kind of hope we won't have to see how well he fights. We 'do' have an escape plan, right?]

As the squad left the building, Price got on the radio. "Big Bird, this is Bravo Six. We have the package. Meet us at LZ one. Over."

"Bravo Six, this is Big Bird. We're on our way. Out."

Once they exited the building, the night vision goggles made things painfully bright. Taking them off quickly, scanning their surroundings, their ride out flew overhead and landed just outside the house's fence.

[Ruby: Wait, how did that helicopter get here so quick?

Weiss: Well, it was a prearranged drop point. Maybe they were hiding nearby, waiting for word to move in?

Ruby: Then wouldn't we have heard them? Those things aren't exactly quiet.

Blake: Still quieter than a Bullhead.]

Quickly getting to the landing zone, Price didn't hesitate to get in the aircraft. Everyone else took a few seconds to check they weren't being followed, guns at the ready. Soap had to give Nicolai credit, his hands were damn steady despite the fact his time as a prisoner was probably pretty rough. Once they were sure they were clear, they got into the chopper as well.

As the helicopter started to take off, Nicolai asked, "Have the Americans already attacked Al-Asad?"

[Yang: Oh, so the Ultranationalist guys and Asad's thugs are on the same side. That simplifies things a little.]

Price seemed a little caught off-guard. "No, their invasion begins in a few hours. Why?"

Nicolai's response was even more confusing. "The Americans are making mistake. They will never take Al-Asad alive."

* * *

As another segment of the game ended, Blake felt her smile widen a little. "Ah, so the plot thickens."

Weiss was smiling as well. "Considering how distant the two places are, it's certainly interesting that they seem to have similar goals. I still don't get why they feel the need to slaughter civilians all over the place, or with so much equipment, but it's nice to know we aren't just fighting two very separate forces."

Ruby finished off what was left of her drink. "Well, sounds like we're going after Asad and his glorified thugs next. I'm 'really' going to enjoy this next bit."

The team was about as relaxed as they'd ever been together. For Blake and Weiss, it was a novel experience to sit back and enjoy something with peers. Yang let out a small breath of relief. After the rather brutal start of this game, she'd been worried she'd made a mistake. Taking a look at the time, she was downright amazed that only half an hour had passed. It felt like they'd been in here longer. Hell, Blake had spoken a lot more in this thirty minute period than she had in their entire time together as partners 'combined'. Yang couldn't help wondering why she didn't think of something like this earlier, or why Beacon didn't have anything to help first years deal with the pressure. Ah well, better that it was something the team did on their own than something the school mandated. Otherwise they would have just gone through the motions or something.

* * *

Closing notes: And that's another chapter done. Hope you all enjoyed it. I think you know where to leave your comments at this point. I'm kind of worried I'm neglecting some of the girls when it comes to the reactions, but that might just be paranoia. Until next time.


	10. Chapter 10

Opening notes: Sorry for the long break between chapters, but due to various things in life that have been slowing me down and making it hard to write, up to and including my dad suddenly being without a home at all out of the blue, it's been hard to find the energy for this story on various days. And even when I did have the energy for it, for some reason writing the gameplay portion of this part of the game was a real pain in the ass. A good number of forgettable fights against enemies, the player moving forward being the only way for the game to realize the fight should go to the next phase, the questionable quality of allies..ugh.

And I 'still' feel like I'm not taking full advantage of the four members of team RWBY. Does anyone feel particularly out of character to you? Does Yang have enough of a presence? We'll see how long it takes for me to get the next chapter going, and I hope you enjoyed this one.

* * *

Chapter 10

Observations Under Fire

It was downright amazing how engrossed Weiss was with what was happening so far. Her knowledge of fiction before arriving to Beacon was limited to opera and various plays, and those were typically tainted by the fact they were always part of some scheme from her father. An ill-conceived attempt to distract her when her mother divorced and abandoned the Schnees all together here. An excuse to both look like a caring parent for the press while still mostly ignoring her for work related discussions there. Really, regardless of how good the performance might have been, she was rather sour in every event, and ended up picking apart every little flaw. Maybe that had something to do with how critical she was of others.

But here? She felt herself slumping against the couch, attentive but not in any way poised, and despite several little things she took issue with like strangely designed aircraft somehow flying without being powered by some form of Dust..she was actually enjoying herself. And even more surprising? She was enjoying herself while being with others. There was just something about watching what was happening on screen and having a running commentary with her teammates that felt..right.

Granted, she still felt Ruby hadn't quite earned the right to be considered her leader, even if Weiss had given up on the idea of becoming leader herself. She still felt that Yang was an overly relaxed brute who could possibly have some less than savory hobbies. And Blake..

..well, actually, she didn't interact that much with her third teammate on a day to day basis, she was typically too busy berating the other two for one reason or another. Still, there were these strange moments where the raven haired girl would seem to take issue with something Weiss said. Not to mention the way she reacted to certain types of scenes in this game. Before, the silver haired heiress kind of ignored her fourth teammate, as if all she needed to know was she didn't push her buttons like the other two. Now, though, she was curious.

So really, this impromptu bit of team bonding was actually a damn good idea. Weiss couldn't find it in herself to crack the proverbial whip, there was no pressure, and whatever ulterior motives were behind it were actually pretty pure. So as the screen zoomed from one location on the map to another, Weiss was in the perfect mindset to just enjoy the ride.

The emblem for the SAS was quickly replaced by the symbol of a new group. U.S.M.C. Hm, a golden eagle in front of a two dimensional..thing that seemed inspired by a globe. Weiss wasn't really sure how to describe it, and didn't like the look. "Well, if there's one thing we can say about the USMCs, whoever they are, their symbol isn't all that inspiring."

Yang raised a hand to about chin level and twisted it, possibly a handsign Weiss was unfamiliar with, but based on her words and expression, she was on the fence with this one, too. "Eh, I like the color, and the bird looks cool, but I've got to admit, it feels a little busy. And I get the feeling they're trying to send a message with the bird in front of the world, but..I don't know."

As the name of the current player character popped up, a sergeant Paul Jackson, the map moved to the water just outside the city, and the screen shifted, showing a large fleet of ships all uniformly distant from one another. It was hard to get an idea of how large the fleet was, or even what all the ships were. A lot of them looked pretty similar to transport barges, though given the strange, white-lined nature of the image she couldn't fully imagine how they'd look. It was like the game was giving them kind of distant schematics of the ships rather than actually putting them on screen.

Of course, when the screen zoomed in, she at least had a better idea of the scale of the ships, and saw as one of those helicopter things took off. The helicopters looked slightly blocky, green with kind of visible polygons. Possibly they made the image look worse to help the audience understand that yes, this was supposed to be a computer image within the game. Still felt a little strange.

["Outlaw, this is Deadly. Refueled and fully loaded."

"Rodger that. Batchlortea-*too garbled to hear behind the music*"]

Ruby quickly counted up the helicopters. "One, three, four..huh, only eight? Maybe I'm a little..iffy with army tactics, but sending only eight transports to deal with an entire city? And there were 'definitely' more boats than aircraft down there."

Blake countered with, "Well, we don't know what their objective is, and we're probably only seeing our character's piece of the task force. It's a little difficult for someone in the middle of the excitement to know absolutely everything that's going on around them."

["Marines! Spotters have a possible fix on Al-Asad in a building at the west side of town. We're going to secure the perimeter and grab Al-Asad. Oorah? Lock and load!"]

Oh? A chance to cut off the head of the proverbial snake this quickly? Strange, Weiss was kind of expecting them to do more with the desert city considering the build-up earlier on. Still, given the way both Ruby and Yang smiled at that, they were probably 'very' eager to bring this guy down.

* * *

Jackson did a last minute check of his assault rifle. All of the main details seemed to be in order, nothing loose or making the gun unbalanced in any way, and the M4A1's reflex sight was perfectly aligned. Sure, it was a little crazy to keep checking your equipment when you're in the air and seconds away from a combat zone, but it helped him get into the zone just before a drop. And if there's one thing he'd learned in all his years in the military, the best way to stay alive even when shit hit the fan was to be in the zone.

One of the helicopter pilots, a male, said, "Shoreline coming into view."

Getting his gun into position in case he needed to do any shooting before hitting the dirt, Jackson barely heard a female pilot confirm. "Copy, Striker 6-4."

"Feet dry in ten seconds."

"Copy."

That was when he finally started to see the city. A couple of burning buildings, possibly from any initial bombings and artillery strikes to soften the enemy up. It was hard to tell just how effective it was, since he didn't know what was standing down there in the first place. All he could tell was that plenty of AK-47s and RPGs were firing into the air.

The male pilot calmly said, "Taking fire here."

[Yang: Not hearing a lot of concern there.

Weiss: Considering how off-target those shots are, I'm not surprised.]

It was an understandable tactic, especially since the guys on the ground didn't have any guided projectiles. Fill the air with enough gunfire, hope to get lucky and bring someone down. Still, considering how few birds were in the air, how many guns were firing blindly in their general direction, how fast they were moving, and how big the sky was, those guys needed 'plenty' of luck to do anything noticeable.

The female pilot took a second to confirm. "Roger that, we've got RPGs down there."

[Ruby: Wouldn't rocket propelled grenades be better against something on the ground? You know, like a deathstalker or mech?

Blake: It feels like they're using whatever they have on hand. Either they never had dedicated anti-air weapons, or they aren't available right now for any number of reasons.]

A few more seconds of straight flying, and while plenty of the enemy shot into the air, at best a few bullets pinged uselessly against armor. At one point, the male pilot sounded a 'little' more awake when he said, "Shit, that was close.", but since Jackson didn't see any near miss, or feel the helicopter change course in any way, he wasn't worried. The flyboys were doing just fine, and soon he'd be able to start doing his job.

"Got a visual on the target."

The helicopters scattered a little, each one halting at a designated drop point. As Jackson's bird started getting into position, he felt adrenaline start pumping through his veins as he scanned the rooftops, disturbed that there weren't any enemies where they were dropping down. Oh shit..a drop going so smoothly it may as well have been a training exercise. The only time drops ever went this smoothly for him was when something went 'very' wrong later.

Taking a quick glance at absolutely every chopper, he just felt more and more resigned to dealing with a shitstorm of trouble later on. Goddamnit, not one of them was exchanging fire with anything on the ground. Really? Really?! After all the gunfire when the first reached the shore, their predestinated drop point was the 'one' place the enemy didn't have 'anyone' close enough to 'try' shooting at them here? They weren't even that 'far' from the shore, definitely less than two miles.

That line of thought was cut off as he heard Lieutenant Vasquez yell, "Get on the rope! Go go!"

[Yang: Great, now I want to try sliding down a rope, or maybe a pole. I just 'love' the way the wind whips through my hair when I do that.

Weiss: Really? They put fans underneath the pole dancers these days?

Everyone took a moment to just stare at Weiss in shock before Yang started laughing her ass off. Blake's laugh was more nervous and restrained. Understandable, she probably saw Ruby's expression. Ruby wasn't laughing. If Weiss had to describe the expression in the future, she would call it a surprisingly dark glare, nothing really special about it other than it didn't look right on Ruby's face. Right now? It made her imagine getting slapped across the face with her own severed arm.

Yang: Ooh! Ouch! I just left myself 'wide-open' for that one! Good one!

Ruby's expression shifted to amused concentration when she felt Yang might notice her glare. Based on Weiss's reaction, her point was made. Don't even insinuate her sister was a slut.]

Jackson was the second in his chopper to drop, and things didn't get any less unnerving at ground level. Plenty of abandoned cars in various states of disrepair, some Arabic graffiti on the walls, but the only people were American soldiers. The lieutenant yelled, "Second squad on me to the target building! Move!"

Considering the fact that Al-Asad was supposed to be less than a block away, either he thought he was safe, possibly some very elite troops or an escape route he thought was extremely good, or he didn't have nearly as many men as intelligence thought he did for some reason.

"Move it, move it! Set up the blocking position! Let's go!" One of the other teams was setting up some barbed wire in case Al-asad tried running. Granted, if he was especially determined, a barrier that flimsy wasn't going to stop him, but it would slow him down, especially if he wasn't expecting it. And who knew, slowing him down just a little might make all the difference.

[Blake: If they 'really' want to prevent this guy from escaping, they'd cover all the exits on the building. Blocking the streets just spreads them out more.

Yang: Maybe they're trying to keep other people from getting in to help?]

"There's the target building! Left side door breach! Stack up!"

Jackson got into position, trying to keep his fraying nerves from making him do anything stupid. Dear god, he hated it when a 'lack' of enemy activity was more unnerving than plenty of it. He barely even paid attention to the building they ran up to, he just looked at every window he could see to make sure nobody was aiming at them..and his brain kept screaming 'just because you don't see them doesn't mean they aren't there'. Not the best sort of mindset to have just before you breach into a building. One of the others put a charge on the doorknob. His jiggling must have been heard through the door, because someone started yelling something in Arabic. That's all it was, yelling, but it was oddly comforting to know there were at least 'some' enemies to fight in the area.

Lieutenant Vasquez didn't hesitate, either the man set the explosives right or they'd try a different door and keep 'some' manner of the element of surprise. "Blow the charge."

Metal door or not, it just couldn't take the sheer force of the explosion. The lock, the hinges, nothing could keep the door in place. It was just ripped from its position, leaving dust in its wake, and that dust was going to be their cover.

"Breaching! Breaching!"

[Yang: It is 'always' awesome to see a door just go flying.]

The two men inside didn't have a chance to react. Vasquez and another squad member took them down instantaneously. Before the dust had even begun to settle, they were already leaving the room. "Go go go!"

"Clear!" Of course it was clear. It was a wide open room, just two guys near a bunch of canisters that had who-knows-what and a door leading downstairs. It's a little hard to hide in a place like that.

[Ruby: Hey..I kind of thought the whole point of switching from the SAS to the USMC was that we'd come in with a large army. This just feels like more of the same to me.

Blake: Again, it's perspective. Just because you aren't seeing the other teams work doesn't mean they aren't doing something. Still, I've got to admit it's been 'very' quiet so far.

Weiss: It's literally been two minutes, have some patience!

Yang: Yeah, we'll get plenty of explosions and action soon enough.

Blake and Ruby took a moment to stare at their partners, then eachother.

Ruby: Really?

Blake: The both of you have the most explosive tempers of anyone I've ever known, and you're telling 'us' to be patient?

Yang just snickered at that, while Weiss simply sipped her drink and focused on the screen.]

"Jackson, take point."

The staircase was clear, though once he turned the corner, he saw a more busy room. Several crates were scattered in various spots, a cafeteria table directly ahead, and a visible door to the left. He couldn't see more of what was on the right, not unless he moved forward. More importantly, there were three men at the table. It was almost insulting that they were caught so off-guard. Two of them bolted outside of Jackson's sight while the third stood up, gun at the ready. He took three shots to the chest for his trouble.

Pushing forward a little, he turned right to deal with the pair who bolted. One was shooting, hoping the crate would give enough cover and was sorely disappointed. The second ran through an open door behind the crate. Jackson tried to pursue..and got gunned down from behind for his trouble.

{" _From time to time, the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots._ " Thomas Jefferson.}

[Ruby: Wha..what?!

Blake: You've got to be kidding me.

Weiss: Huh, there must have been someone in that room to the left.

Blake: You'd think after we were told to take point, the rest of the squad would 'try' to keep us from getting hit from behind.]

The staircase was clear, though once he turned the corner, he saw a more busy room. Several crates were scattered in various spots, a cafeteria table directly ahead, and a visible door to the left. More importantly, there were three men at the table. It was almost insulting that they were so caught off guard. Two of them bolted outside of Jackson's sight while the third stood up, gun at the ready. Before he could even pull the trigger, he took two bullets, one to the throat and the second right through his eye. Yeah, he's not getting back up.

Pushing forward, bullets started flying at him from the right. One of the enemies stood his ground behind a crate while another ran into a different room. Thankfully the guy behind the crate was firing wildly, more for the sake of slowing down pursuers than actually killing anyone. That cost him, and he was quickly brought down. Something about the door currently behind him made Jackson a little uneasy. Getting a grenade out, he cooked it off for a few seconds before tossing it..and that same second, some poor bastard walked out of that room, and the grenade flew right into his crotch.

[RWBY: OOOH!]

It was almost impressive he managed to stay on his feet, even if he did stumble for a second. That was over half a pound of gunpowder-filled metal tossed like a baseball to the single most sensitive part of the male anatomy. Less than a second later, the grenade went off right at his feet. Yeesh, what a way to go.

[Weiss: I'm not sure if that was luck or skill..but it was 'very' amusing to see.

Blake: Dear god, you'd think they'd be able to give soldiers a cup or something!

Ruby: Nah, cups would make it more annoying to move. I think bodyarmor has 'some' groin protection, but it's pretty light. While it'll stop some lighter bullets from actually ripping through, regardless he's going to feel something hitting him down there.]

A few seconds later, someone else dashed out of the room, and it was clear he didn't want to fight. The only reason his gun was still on him was because it was strapped to his shoulder. Still, he was an enemy soldier, so Jackson felt no sympathy at all when he gunned the bastard down. Considering he saw two other members of his squad open fire, his conscience had little room to complain.

[Yang: Shouldn't the grenade have taken him out, too?

Ruby: It didn't actually end up in the room, it went off just outside of it.]

Just for the sake of thoroughness, he went into the room that the pair were in before. There wasn't much to it, a television with Al-Asad making a speech, a bulletin board that was absolutely covered in various reminders and announcements, some posters with a big red fist, a golden star, and Arabic writing. Really, nothing that would explain why nobody on this floor even noticed they were under attack until the Americans actually stormed into the basement. Maybe they'd just become numb to the sounds of gunfire and explosions when they took control from the previous regime.

Convinced nobody was going to sneak up behind him and try to put several rounds up his ass, Jackson left the room, heading towards the crate one of the enemies used for cover. Just behind it were two open doors, and plenty of people yelling in Arabic.

Lieutenant Vasquez took up a position just next to the nearest door. "Jackson, throw a flashbang!"

Slowly inching his way forward, trying to find a good position to throw one without getting torn to shreds in the process, Jackson tossed it in and backed away, giving the enemy as little opportunity to shoot him as possible. It was a perfect toss. So perfect, apparently, that the lieutenant just couldn't stop himself from watching the grenade every step of the way..and when it went off, he was just as stunned as the men in that room.

[Blake: What kind of colossal idiot pokes his head in a room like that when 'he' ordered that damn thing to be used?!

Weiss: The kind that makes even Jaune Arc at his worst seem like a genius.]

Ignoring the fact that his squad leader was stunned by their own flash-bang, Jackson quickly dashed into the room. There were several piles of crates for cover, and only one man seemed to have been caught by the stun-grenade. Took him down, checked right. Clear. Moved to the right corner, two men, unstunned. A quick burst took them both down, the bullets tearing through the first to rip through the second, the other side of the room getting splattered with the second man's blood.

[Ruby: Okay, even if they don't have auras, I would have thought their body armor could have stopped those bullets from going through 'both' and into the 'wall'.

Yang: They must of got 'em on sale.

Blake: No, take a closer look. No bullet holes on the wall. Just some generic blood splatter. It's probably just how they coded the game or something.]

Quick reload, push forward and look left. Clear. Continuing to hug the wall, Jackson cautiously moved forward, still hearing the frantic yells of the enemy. Just as he was about to reach the next corner, someone rushed towards him and aimed at the door he came from not long ago. He didn't give the bastard long enough to adjust his aim, he just dashed and stabbed him right in the chest, saw another man standing at an exit, and quickly shot him down as well.

[Ruby: Oh yeah. Not so fun when you're on the receiving end, is it you freaking bullies!

Weiss: Congratulations. You just cleared a basement. You just have to deal with the 'rest' of the city, now.]

Reloading again, he waited a few seconds to see if anyone else was going to pop-up. Nothing. He didn't even hear any Arabic yells to tell him that there were still some enemies left to deal with. Taking a minute to check the rest of the floor room by room, all he could find were the dead bodies he'd left behind.

[Yang: Great, our guys aren't even helping us check the floor after the fighting's done just to be sure we got everyone. Really great teamwork here. Just let the badass do as much work as possible and stand around trying, and failing, to look pretty in those uniforms.]

Nothing worth seeing, and the only things he could hear were the words coming from the television and some battle noises outside. Part of him was curious where the rest of his squad was at the moment, but the other was consumed with one thought. This was too easy. Sure, a bunch of United States marines should be very capable of dealing with the questionably trained thugs that Al-Asad considered soldiers, but this little resistance in a building where their leader was supposed to be, and so unaware of their surroundings that they didn't even know the city was under attack? Bullshit. Intel dropped the ball.

At that point, Vasquez gave his orders over the radio. "All callsigns, check the bodies. We need a positive ID on Al-Asad."

Jackson didn't even bother looking closely at the corpses. Let someone else figure out the obvious.

"Negative ID over here, sir."

"No sign of Al-Asad here, sir."

Letting out a small noise of annoyance, Vasquez contacted command. "HQ, this is Red Dog. Target building is secure but we don't have Al-Asad, over."

[Blake: Oh that building is 'so' not secure. We only went through the basement! It's several stories tall!]

Jackson kind of wished he was able to hear directly from command, if only exactly how bad their intel had been. Maybe that sort of thinking was why he'd never make officer. Vasquez just nodded at their response. "Roger that HQ. Out."

[Ruby: Is there a reason 'we' didn't hear those orders directly from headquarters? We certainly heard from them when we were in the SAS.

Weiss: Possibly to make it harder to intercept their transmissions, possibly to keep the men from hearing what they don't need to hear to get the job done.]

"Heads-up! I just got word Al-Asad is broadcasting half a click east of here at a TV station! We're gonna move out on foot and take down the package there. Move out."

[Ruby: Well look at that, he had to tell the men what he heard.

Weiss: So it's the first thing I said.]

With that, the squad reunited at the staircase and exited the building. It seemed this part of the city was starting to wake up, the enemy was trying to shoot any American they could see on the ground and in the air. Taking aim at a small group in a building just in front of him, Jackson stopped and opened fire, taking down two men before continuing on with the others. Going through a small alley with an opened fence, taking a left at another alley, one of the barbed-wire barriers was visible. Either someone shifted it over so it wouldn't impede their fellow marines, or the people setting it up hadn't finished before they got killed. Both were equally plausible, but the pair of dead bodies made Jackson think it was the latter.

Grenades went off on top of the building to his left, probably killing even more of the enemy. He saw movement in the corner of his eye, a group of enemies coming at the squad. As the Americans opened fire, a few of the enemy tried hiding behind an abandoned car. It was hard to say whose bullet finally did the job, but eventually someone must have hit the fuel tank, and everyone taking cover immediately near the car was killed. Still, it's not like the car disintegrated. Fresh enemies used it for cover. And that was when things went from bad to worse, enemies coming at them from the left.

Jackson pushed forward against the first group while the rest of the squad held their ground. Hopefully he could at least make sure the enemy was only hitting them from one angle. Two more behind the car, took them down as they tried getting up to fire. One behind a cement barrier. Knifed him right in the back of the neck. Well, that's one group dealt with.

[Blake: If your back-up actually felt reasonably competent, I might have felt concerned that you left them behind and did your own thing just there.

Ruby: Yeah, it 'really' feels less like we're part of a team in this and more like the player character is practically alone.]

With one group of hostiles dead, Jackson felt he could try to flank the second one. Taking a left, part of him wondered just what he was walking towards. Part of him wanted to call it a make-shift courtyard. Sheet metal was placed in the center of a group of buildings, as if trying to fence something in, but they didn't have time to get all the sheet metal in place for the perfect box. Of course, his slight confusion about where he was was interrupted by enemies beginning to swarm all around him. Huh, guess he wasn't going to get to flank that second group after all.

Trying to avoid getting surrounded, Jackson moved towards the right corner. Better to have your back to the wall than try to pay attention to four directions at once. At least, that was the plan until he saw two enemies running along the rooftops and heading right where he wanted to go. Right, change in plan. Keep moving, shoot absolutely anyone he saw, and hope he didn't get overwhelmed.

It was hard to tell when another squad of marines came to help him out. It was even harder to tell how long the fight went even with back-up, these guys were absolutely determined to prevent them from getting to the TV station, which made it seem all the more likely Al-Asad was actually there.

"We got a man down over here!"

[Ruby: It just feels so awkward fighting alongside these guys. I know they're trying, but..yikes. It feels like the enemy is better in a fight than they are, and since neither side can take a hit, and we're outnumbered, I'm kind of surprised we don't hear that more often.]

"Hostile with RPG!"

[Ruby: Be more specific! Where's the guy with the big gun!

Blake: On top of that building, on your left!

Ruby: Huh?

Yang: Not that far left! The water tower!

Ruby: Oh.. now I se-crap! That was close!

Weiss: Good god! Shooting that kind of heavy duty gun at a bunch of infantry when no one has an aura! That's just..stupid!

Blake: Which part? The overkill, or the fact that you're using very expensive ammo and 'maybe' killing one man per shot that you could probably manage with just about any weapon?]

"Grenade!"

[Weiss: Wow, I don't think I've ever seen someone do something quite so stupid..who trains these idiots?

Yang: Seriously, it's one thing to try kicking a grenade back at the guy who threw it. It's another thing to kneel down, pick it up, and wind up to throw it back. It's like he was 'asking' for it to blow up in his hand.]

"Tangos in the open! To the northeast!"

[Ruby: Well, at least that was more specific than their other warnings.

Weiss: That's not saying much.

Ruby: True]

"Friendly reinforcements coming up!"

[Blake: Yeah, all those reinforcements are good for is diverting enemy fire.]

As the second batch of American reinforcements came in, the influx of fresh enemies stopped, either because they ran out of troops to send or just felt they should send their forces to a more defendable location. Either way, there was enough of an opening for the squad to start pushing forward. Two more enemies on top of a building. Jackson took them out and climbed up the stairs, may as well use the high ground to deal with any fresh enemies. It was a damn good thing he did. A technical was driving in the next street, machine-gun spraying at anyone who was caught on the street.

[Weiss: Wow, that is..surprisingly primitive. It looks like they just bolted that gun on the back of the only working truck in the city.]

The driver was at a ridiculously sedate pace considering they were in the middle of a frantic fight, not pushing the engine. Understandable, the streets were narrow and full of abandoned vehicles, so they couldn't easily maneuver. Add in the fact that the Americans were only coming from one street, and there wasn't a lot of motivation for them to move that far that fast. It was fairly easy to hit the gunner, especially since he probably never noticed Jackson on top of the building. Ignoring the driver for now, he shifted his aim towards a trio of enemies on a building across the street.

For a minute or two, he stood up there and waited, hoping the marines would figure out he was trying to cover them so they could push forward. But no, they just held their ground, and slowly more and more enemies dashed up the building. They were quickly cut down, of course, but still, it annoyed Jackson that he was the only one who saw that they should move while the enemy was fairly weak in this area.

Jumping from the rooftop down to the ground, he didn't pay attention to the slight pain from jumping from a two story structure. He just rushed forward, hoping the others would at least take the hint to follow him. Especially when he saw a large group of hostiles rushing at them down the street.

[Weiss: It's official. This game can 'not' pull off this kind of large scale encounter.

Blake: I wouldn't call this large scale. It's just infantry shooting at one another as they travel across the streets, and I doubt the number of people in a given encounter gets above two dozen at any given point. Still, it feels clumsy compared to the previous missions we went through, and it just doesn't give the sense that we're in a much, much larger battle.]

It was around this point when the others finally caught up and seemed to start pushing forward against the enemy instead of letting Jackson take the lead. Bullets flying all over the place, men on both sides going down all around him, it was hard to say when the street was clear. All he knew was that the last enemy died as a red car exploded and someone behind yelled, "Hey! Check your fire! Friendlies at your six!"

[Yang: Welcome to the party. There's plenty of fun to go around.]

Another blurry, frantic fight near the bombed out remains of a building. Only a few cracked sections of wall remained, and at this point Jackson was starting to feel a little punch-drunk. There were only so many enemies you could deal with in a short period of time before your brain started to stop caring, and that was one of the most dangerous points in any battle. When you feel yourself stop paying attention due to dealing with crowds for around ten minutes, that's when it's easier for the enemy to get lucky.

Three more down on the ground, and he nearly got torn to shreds in response. It took his brain a second to figure out where that fire was coming from, the rooftop immediately to his right. Without thinking, he turned to try returning fire, hitting nothing but wall. Shit. Turning his gun up, it was literally impossible to get a shot at the enemy up there. Nothing to see but muzzle flashes and a small section of gun. Just as he was about to try moving to a better angle and hope he didn't get killed on the way there, someone else tossed a grenade up there.

[Ruby: Finally, someone other than Jackson in the USMC doing something other than shooting randomly and hoping to hit something! What, is aiming some secret technique that only the player can ever know?!]

Since the shooting stopped after the explosion, it was safe to assume those guys were dead. And based on the lack of fresh enemies, either they were regrouping or they'd given up keeping this part of the city. Taking a moment to collect some ammo from fallen marines, Jackson moved forward with the rest of the squad towards what looked like the only building in the city that wasn't a tannish brown. While it wasn't what he'd call 'fancy', it certainly looked out of place compared to everything else he'd seen so far. Gray, about three stories tall, a couple of satellite dishes on top..

Vasquez confirmed on the radio, "Target building in sight."

* * *

Closing notes: Yeah, sorry. Part of me wanted to keep going until I finished the mission, but it's been a while since my previous update, and it feels like this chapter is a good length.

To make up for this, I'm going to address certain questions I've been getting in the reviews. Namely what games/series I'm intending for the girls to go through. At this point, this is what I have planned.

Ruby will, of course, do the Call of Duty Modern Warfare series. Her fighting style is momentum based and constantly moving forward, and this is one of the best done parts of the Call of Duty franchise. There are obvious bad guys, and while the good guys do some questionable stuff, their goals are still good, protecting the innocent and trying to make the world peaceful. I'm sure the team is going to learn a few tricks and grow closer together while going through this first, and the timeline for when the team plays these games is kind of loose, but is generally in Volume 1. While there will be events outside of the games that shape the team and differ from canon, it's still going to run pretty close. Still trying to figure out how to pull off those other moments.

Blake will be next with the Batman Arkham series, of course. Sorry, part of me wanted to do Weiss next to stick with the whole RWBY order thing, but you've got to admit, in Volume 2 Blake was the main driver. Her main issues were that she became a workaholic that was absolutely obsessed with her personal crusade, and dear god, that fits Arkham Origins to a T, and the rest just flow from there. Looking forward to getting to it, have a lot of ideas for what goes on outside of the games in it, but first let's get the team through Modern Warfare.

Weiss, well, I was thinking of doing a pair of games in a Shin Megami Tensei subseries called Devil Summoner. The main character uses a saber/revolver combo, has a combat style best suited to dealing with one enemy at a time, and summons various creatures to help him in combat. I also think Ruby will enjoy the fact the main character is a pretty heroic character and wears a freaking cape. Blake will definitely enjoy the feel of Taisho era Japan. And Yang, well, she's going to have a field day with some of the demons in that game. Dear god, one of them is a dick on a chariot. I can already hear her laughter.

As for Yang, I was kind of leaning towards the God of War series, but again, that's a good amount of time in the future. We'll see where we end up as we go.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter, leave any criticism and comments in the reviews. Hope to get the next chapter out soon.


	11. Chapter 11

Author's Note: I'm very sorry it took me this long to get this chapter out, especially since I stopped in the middle of a mission. I have little excuse, just that my creativity always seems to go to hell around September to December. It's just never been a pleasant time of year for me. Still, as the release of Volume 3 comes ever closer, it's hard not to feel guilty that I'm letting something as trivial as the time of year prevent me from pushing forward.

As a side note, I'm getting the feeling the whole 'humor' genre thing was just wishful thinking on my part. This fic feels surprisingly serious considering its main focus is characters reacting to playing a video game, mostly because Blake has once again hijacked the story, taking it from a simple written-out LP to an outright flashback. Should I remove the humor genre tag, put something else in its place? And along those same lines, should I up the rating on this fic from teen to mature? I'm not really a good judge on that sort of thing, especially when I'm looking at my own writing.

Anyway, let's get into the action and see where it goes.

* * *

Chapter 11

As the squad stacked up on an entrance, a marine from one of the other squads ran up to the lieutenant and said, "We've got the TV station locked down and surrounded, sir."

Vasquez nodded. "Good. Get into position to breach."

If the man felt in any way awkward that he'd informally been folded into a different squad in the middle of combat, he didn't show it. For half a second, Jackson wondered just how ravaged that man's squad had been in the fighting so far. Hell, he barely paid attention to how many familiar faces were left in his own squad. If you don't have a certain amount of detachment, well, then any given fight could leave you broken.

As one of the men finished setting up the breaching charge, Vasquez uttered a gruff, "Do it."

Like the previous door, it landed flat on the ground from the sheer force of the explosion, hinges and latch completely shattered. "Breaching, breaching!"

The first two men opened fire as they entered, hitting nothing but wall. No enemies in the room at all.

[Yang: Really? Shooting up the room when there's no one to shoot?

Weiss: Maybe they've been drilled pretty rigorously. Better to spend ammo on nothing than being caught flat-footed in a bad situation.

Yang: Of course 'you' would say that. You've got the money that expending every ounce of dust you've got is just an inconvenience. Everyone else is a little more conscious of that sort of thing.]

"On me!"

[Ruby: On who?

Blake: That was just a random soldier yelling. Probably better to ignore him and keep moving forward.]

Jackson didn't even bother trying to figure out who said that. He was the second highest ranked soldier in the squad, and anyone who wasn't the lieutenant didn't have the authority to tell him what to do. And thankfully, Vazquez tended to let him do whatever so long as it got the job done. Of course, there was something to be said about staying close to the squad. Pushing further into the building before anyone else meant Jackson had to deal with the enemy first.

The first enemy stood at a doorway, opening fire a quarter second faster than Jackson did. Only half of his body was visible, but he was still an easy target at this range. Two bullets to the armpit and a third to his throat ended him before he could cause any real damage.

[Weiss: I'm kind of surprised someone with a speed semblance like you doesn't have faster reflexes.

Ruby: Just because I can 'move' pretty quickly doesn't mean I can process that information instantly. That's why I tend to use it in short bursts, less likely to trip or bump into something I didn't see before.

Weiss: Huh..good to know.]

Nobody else seemed to be jumping from the corners, but that didn't necessarily mean there weren't more enemies hiding there. Pushing forward, Jackson quickly looked to his left as he left the squad behind. Nothing but a short hall that led back to the room he just left. Back to the hall where he killed the previous threat. Taking a right just before he reached the door with a corpse, there was another small hallway. Well, at least this one led to a new room, a small break room just outside of one with plenty of computer screens and audio equipment, with maybe two cubicles in the middle. Just beyond it was a room with plenty of servers. Part of him wondered why someone needed to put windows indoors.

Those cubicles soon proved useful for cover as men in a server room started opening up on Jackson. While the weak materials that kept them together and the computer equipment couldn't stop bullets, at the very least, they obscured his body well enough that bullets just flew by him. Still, that wasn't going to help him for long. It just gave him those helpful few seconds to figure out how many people were shooting, and how to approach the next room.

Quickly moving towards the door to the server room, he quickly took down a man shooting from beside one of the servers, turned left, and cut down another three in a hail of gunfire. Unfortunately, that's when the rest of the squad caught up with him..and tossed a flash-bang.

[Yang: Son of a -

Blake: Why didn't they at least call out that they were going to use one of those!]

Whatever good it did for the others, it screwed Jackson royally. Bullets slammed into his body, and if there was any chance of escape, it was practically non-existent while he was blind and deaf for several seconds. By the time he regained his vision and hearing, he was already dead, his lifeless eyes glaring at the nameless marine that trampled over his body to charge into the server room to finish the last of that particular enemy group.

{" _The deadliest weapon in the world is a Marine and his rifle!_ " General John J. Pershing}

[Weiss: They'd probably be even more deadly if it wasn't for team-killing morons!

Ruby: Yeesh, I know people are generally better when they band together, but the way these marine guys fight, they're probably better off fighting alone..at least, I think our guy is.

Blake: It is simply amazing how much worse these guys feel in comparison to the SAS troops we started the game with. Was that intentional on the game designer's part?

Ruby: Whatever..let's try that again. Only with less dying on our part.]

The first enemy stood at a doorway, opening fire half a second faster than Jackson did.

[Yang: Great, we were sent 'that' far back! Annoying.]

The combination of sheer agony and his body jerking around with every hit made it impossible to aim down his sights, so Jackson just opened up, hoping to get lucky before he received a killing blow. Thankfully, one out of the dozen bullets he fired slammed through the bastard's nose. Before the body had even hit the ground, Jackson reloaded and took cover behind the doorway, catching his breath and waiting for his pulse to get back to a nice, calm beat.

[Weiss: Yeah, you dealt with that guy a 'lot' better the first time.

Ruby: I have 'no' idea what happened just there. Did he react faster than last time or did I react slower?

Blake: No, you reacted just as fast..wow. This game certainly does manage to give a good amount of randomness to even the encounters you see coming.]

Once he was absolutely sure he wasn't going to keel over if someone so much as looked at him wrong, he pushed forward, taking the first right to a small hallway. Slowly, cautiously, he approached the door, revealing a new room. A small break room just outside of one with plenty of computer screens and audio equipment, with maybe two cubicles in the middle. Just beyond it was a room with plenty of servers. Part of him wondered why someone needed to put windows indoors.

Those thoughts were interrupted as the enemy started swarming at the windows in the server room, blasting at Jackson and the squad wildly. Glass shattered on both sides of the room, and he desperately tried finding cover. There was nothing around that could outright stop bullets, but the cubicles seemed as good an option as any.

Two enemies dashed through the door on the other side. His opening burst caught one of them in the shoulder, forcing the man back behind the door, while the second rushed to the nearest cubicle. Seems he had the same idea Jackson did. The fact that Jackson guessed exactly where he was behind the cubicle and riddled him with bullets didn't make that option feel all that appealing, but the fact was there wasn't much cover in here anyway.

The man at the door wasn't dead, and managed to hit Jackson multiple times. It was actually kind of amazing how his aim went from extremely accurate to wilder than a horny teenager the moment he went behind cover. Maybe it was because he tried to change targets while still holding down the trigger. Two marines passed Jackson by, guns blazing as they rushed for the door.

[Weiss: Well, at least that's better than before.

Ruby: Really? Running and gunning seems pretty stupid to me.

Weiss: Would you prefer suicidal stupid allies that at least manage to cause some damage, or the brain-dead fools who got you killed last time?

Ruby:..I'd prefer actual teammates to "allies", thank you.]

Of the two marines that charged forward, only one was able to get to the door. Shoving his gun right at the enemy's face, he made up for his lack of aim by just spraying bullets at point blank range. Reckless, very inefficient, but in this case it worked for him.

One of the enemies at the windows threw a grenade, trying to get Jackson out from his cover. Quickly picking it up and tossing it through the door, he absently noticed the lucky soldier's name as the guy quickly ran away from the blast radius. Private Lou..the kid had potential. Shame about his friend, though.

Seconds after the grenade went off, Jackson dashed into the server room, the rest of the squad quickly behind him. There weren't many enemies left in there at this point, just one hiding near the wall, hoping the servers would protect him. Lou and Jackson flanked him, and the poor guy didn't have a chance.

Moving on to the next room, which appeared to be the main room for the entire TV station. Computer monitors and televisions from wall to wall, some of them literally a part of the wall. Several octagon workspaces with the odd rectangular one scattered all over, a few side rooms within the room, a second floor balcony..it was enough to make Jackson 'really' wonder what this sort of room was used for on a day to day basis. Too bad there was no one he could ask.

All he knew at this point was that this was was a 'very' bad place to have a firefight. There were multiple entrances on the second floor, several doors leading into this main room, possibly a dozen men already in here, an unknown number of enemies ready to come reinforce this position..all that said, there was nothing they could do to avoid this clash. Even assuming their squad could manage to be subtle enough to sneak by this many sets of scattered eyes, they'd probably have to try going for the only open door on the floor, which was the most visible spot in the entire room.

Taking a deep breath before the plunge, Jackson rushed towards one of the side rooms, opened fire on the poor shmuck who walked by the door, and let the insanity begin.

[Ruby: What th-rockets?! They're using rockets 'inside'?!

Yang: Stop gawking, start shooting!

Weiss: Okay, there's gunfire from at least six different angles! I don't think taking cover is going to do anything!

Blake: Keep your back to a wall and whatever you do keep moving!]

A rocket slammed into one of the octagon work spaces, the shrapnel burying itself in two marines. Ignoring their gurgling, painful deaths, Jackson sent a burst of fire at the man who fired the RPG. Next target, a man standing and spraying fire from the second floor. Four bullets to the chest and he was no longer a problem.

"Enemy personnel!"

[Weiss: Oh really?! A little hard to tell through all this 'gunfire'!]

"First floor!"

[Yang: But 'where' down here?! There's so many bullets in the air I can't tell where they're coming from!]

"Grenade!"

That caught his attention amidst all the gunfire. The grenade was just far enough away that he couldn't just pick it up and toss it back at the enemy in an instant, but still close enough to be lethal. No, not worth trying to pick it up and throw it. Just move away from it.

Moving back and forth between the entrance to the large room and the door to a room within the room, rarely staying still for more than a few seconds regardless of how much cover he was behind, it was hard to tell just how long the fight went, or how many enemies went down. It was just a blur of frantic gunfire and screaming. When he was a rookie, this sort of thing would give him nightmares. Now? He barely paid attention to a fellow marine crawling on the ground, slowly dying from his wounds. All he paid attention to was his next target, a masked man who was stupid enough to come up close to Jackson. A quick burst of gunfire, and the bastard was holding his throat, convulsing painfully.

[While the others were making various noises of excitement as the hectic, pitched battle continued in the game, Blake tried to hide just how disturbingly 'good' this game was at making an indoors skirmish into an impossible-to-follow bloodbath. Just seeing the masked man on screen holding his throat and slowly dropping to the ground reminded her of the first time, at least the first she was part of, when the White Fang went violent.]

* * *

Blake double checked her equipment, if only to calm herself down. For some reason, when she imagined going on a mission to deal with a bunch of detestable criminals, her tools were a lot more impressive than a make-shift grapple that was essentially an old rope tied to an oversized fishing hook, a heavy meat cleaver that was meant to chop something immobile on a table, and a third-hand semi-automatic pistol that seemed to love jamming up at random times.

Of course, she wasn't part of a ninja clan that was trying to root out evil for her benevolent lord. Hell, calling it a "mission" implied there was a great deal of thought up into it. She was just one of four faunus that had gotten sick of getting hit with tear-gas, tasers, and the occasional rock whenever they tried to do a perfectly legal, if loud, protest near Schnee Dust Company property. So, before the latest protest had finished being broken up, the four decided they were going to start fighting back. Granted, attacking a warehouse that was due to get shut down in a month probably wasn't going to send a very strong message, but hey, they had to start somewhere. Besides, attacking a place this poorly guarded was still going to be pretty rough considering the small group that'd been put together.

Azul was loading his double-barrel shotgun, which kind of looked like a toy in his massive hands. Granted, just about anything would look small to a seven foot three wall of muscles. Hell, the fireman's ax strapped to his back looked more like a hatchet than the two handed weapon it was supposed to be. Now, maybe Blake had read too much fiction, but she had a hard time figuring out how a blue behemoth like him could help them stay stealthy, especially with those two weapons. Then again, maybe the whole 'stealth' aspect of this thing was just a vain hope in her head. Something to ward off the worry that they'd have to deal with anyone, or worse, any'thing' that might fight back.

Cerise had apparently scouted the place out to her own satisfaction, pausing for a moment as she tried to decide if she wanted her hunting rifle out or her ridiculously large Bowie knife. Part of Blake was curious why someone would even have to think about if she should start with her ranged or melee weapon. Wouldn't it be better to keep her gun out and switch to the knife if someone came too close? Then again, it's not like she had the same worries the pink haired teen did. She was planning on having her cleaver and pistol out at the same time, and it would probably be pretty awkward to do something similar with a rifle.

Adam was adjusting the calibrations on his custom weapons, Wilt and Blush. Cerise smirked as he was playing around with Blush, possibly due to how the best equipped person on their impromptu team was having a harder time getting his equipment ready than the ones with very basic stuff. "I'm kind of surprised you stuck around for this. Weren't you planning to go to Titan Academy?"

Grimacing a little in frustration as he fumbled with the inner workings of his sheath/rifle, he retorted, "The academy isn't going anywhere right now."

Her smirk died down as her voice became more serious. "But the trip 'to' the academy for initiation is two days from now, and I somehow doubt they'll just let you out of jail if you say you've got a flight to catch."

Adam just scoffed at that. "As if the worst possible thing that could happen to any of us is being arrested."

And that just made Blake shiver. "Great, as if I wasn't feeling nervous enough as it is."

Quickly putting Blush back together and sheathing Wilt, placing them on his hip, Adam kneeled down to put his hands comfortingly on Blake's shoulders. "Sorry. Probably not the best idea to talk about how things could go wrong. Look, you don't have to do this..just three of us could easily deal with the scrubs in there. You just go back to reading about..what was that girl's name? Moki Shi-something-or-other?"

Somehow, hearing him butcher one of her all-time favorite characters from her books made her a lot less nervous about what was about to happen. "That's Mochizuki Chiyome. Seriously, how many times do I have to remind you?!"

Both Adam and Cerise chuckled at her little outburst, while Azul growled a little. "Excuse me, I thought we came here to shoot some Schnees, not shoot the shit."

Any and all humor left Cerise's face at that. "Sorry. There isn't any external security, so the only trouble we'll run into will be inside. We get in there, cause some havoc, leave the footage of Amber getting beaten down in the last protest in the wreckage, and hope someone gets the hint that we aren't going to passively take that shit anymore."

Nobody really had anything to say after that, and Blake couldn't help wondering if that was really a good thing as they wordlessly started walking to the warehouse. She kept looking around, expecting to see some snipers or hidden traps or really anything to show the people here were expecting some kind of trouble. Sure, it was paranoid, but she'd learned a long time ago that anything with that distinctive snowflake logo was trouble. At most, she saw some humanoid shapes through a second story window. Oh please say those were just robots.

When Azul kicked down the door, time seemed to slow down. Three men in overalls trying to shift around an awkward looking, very heavy rectangular crate. In that long second, several thoughts went through Blake's head. What was in that crate? Was it 'really' okay to attack a place that mostly had low paid human workers simply because they weren't confident enough to hit a more important targets? Was this really the right way to make their voices heard?

Any further thoughts were cut off by the first bullet a White Fang member ever fired at a human tore a hole in a man's throat. She didn't think about the fact that the man didn't have an activated aura, that the four of them were the only ones with weapons, the almost-gurgle as the man tried to scream when he was already dead, how disturbing it was that half his neck was gone and the shocked man's body made a single, quick spasm before he fell to the ground. She just stayed close to the others, pulling the trigger in her crappy gun until it jammed.

* * *

It took less than a second for Blake to go through that flashback, but she was quiet even by her own standards after that. She just silently looked at each member of her team and wondered what they'd think if they knew her past.

Ruby had a cute little look of concentration, tongue poking out of a corner of her lips as the virtual battle raged on, occasionally making the odd jab at the fictional enemies like "yeah, bet you wished you didn't waste so many bullets on people who couldn't fight back, don't you you overblown bullies". She probably wouldn't react well to hearing one of her teammates actually 'did' kill some defenseless people in the past. Probably a combination of horror, fear, and disgust.

Yang downright amused by the sheer amount of property damage. If anything, the bullets flying all over the place did more damage than all the explosives combined..partly because video games can't properly convey explosive damage, and partly because the AI for both sides seemed more concerned with getting shots off than accuracy. It was hard to get a read on how she'd react to Blake's past, but if she was anything like her sister, she'd be horrified and disgusted, but probably not afraid of the former freedom fighter. No, she'd just be angry as hell and slap Blake across the face with her own severed arm.

And as for Weiss, who couldn't hide her fascination and seemed to be throwing the occasional order Ruby's way and acting a little miffed whenever her advice wasn't followed, well it was easy to tell how 'she' would react. No need to even reveal she used to be a White Fang member, just take off the bow and Weiss would demand someone use the bow to strangle her to death.

It was amazing how something meant to bring the team together just reminded her of how alone she really was.

* * *

Closing notes: So, that's where it goes..we're still in the same mission we started in the previous chapter. Dear god, how long is it going to take for me to be finished with Modern Warfare at this rate? Especially since this is a relatively short game. Damnit Blake, why are you so annoyingly in charge of this story so far? It's Ruby who's got the damn controller in her hands!

Mochizuki Chiyome is a historical woman who formed an all-female ninja force for the Takeda clan during the Sengoku period. Figured she'd be someone Blake would be a fan of.

Azul was based on the character from Final Fantasy 7 Dirge of Cerberus. Of course, I had to downsize the bastard..nine foot five is an absurd height anyway. Still, a massive blood-knight with a color motif? How could I resist. We'll see if he makes any further appearances. Cerise means cherry, and I'm not sure what I'll do with her. My initial plan for the warehouse was that it'd be a big firefight scene with half a dozen White Fang against Schnee security, but point one, this scene was partly to get away from the drawn out firefight in the computer room in the game. As awesome as it was to play through, I'm not too sure about my ability to write it in a way to really give it justice. It would be a little ridiculous to write something to get away from a chaotic, hard-to-write battle scene in order to do another chaotic, hard-to-write battle scene. Point two, I've learned to stay away from original characters who can steal the plot, and the fewer characters I have to add, the better.

As a side note, I found this questionably done RWBY weapons generator that decided the best weapon for me personally was a glaive/grenade launcher combo. Now I just can't get that image out of my head.

Anyway, until next time, this is the Blue Demon of Fire signing off.


	12. Chapter 12

Opening notes: Well, time to finally finish this damn mission and move on with the game. Dear god do I hate winter..the season, not the character. The character was pretty good from what little we've seen of her so far, and I couldn't help laughing when I found out the Schnees are summoners. Really makes the future idea of having Weiss do Devil Summoner feel like a great idea.

Anyway, part of the slowdown was some stupidity in my apartment building. The landlord cranked the heat up so much that some people stupidly started using air conditioners to counter it, and we ended up with a few repeated power failures. Word to the stupid, if it's cold enough that the guys in charge of the building want to turn the place into an oven, just open the window, don't strain the electrical systems to the point we get a power failure. And if it causes the power to go out 'once', why would you want to do it 'again'?!

Strangely, it was only the work I put into this story that kept getting lost with each power failure. All my other projects were completely unharmed on my computer's memory for some odd reason. Anyway, back into the fray.

* * *

Chapter 12

It was hard to tell just how long Jackson had been fighting in that room. It could have been minutes or months. At the very least, it was lifetimes. Bodies littered the ground, and it was hard to tell just how many of them were enemy or ally. All he knew for sure was that the enemy wasn't swarming in at the same rate anymore. Either they were running out of men to send to the massive room, or they just plain didn't think it was worth it anymore.

[Yang: Yeesh, that room was just 'brutal'. You got taken out 'twice'!

Ruby: Don't jinx me! We're not out of it yet!]

So here he was, in a small office room within the larger room in the center of the news building, staring at a massive door behind a bunch of cubicles with ravaged computer equipment, using a thin wall for some added cover and crouching right on top of a dead man's face. If it weren't for the fact that he was busy shooting at some of the last enemies crazy enough to enter this impromptu morgue, he'd probably feel embarrassed that he was essentially tea-bagging some poor bastard who might have even been on his side. But no, he just reloaded, listening for any fresh sounds while keeping his eye on the door that the last dredges were coming from. Nothing. The only things to see were the battle damage, the only things to hear were noises from outside and more Arabic talk from Asad on one of the only undamaged tvs in the building.

[Blake: Okay, I 'swear' that he's been repeating the same words over and over.

Weiss: It's a fake language in a video game. Do you honestly think they'd take the time to give him unique dialogue if nobody is going to understand it?

Blake: They took the time to give him a very impassioned speech that we needed subtitles for, the fact that he's been repeating just one small segment of that speech in a loop is either a surprising amount of laziness given this production, or a sign that something's off.]

Just as he was about to advance forward, someone yelled, and two fresh enemies ran from the door. Taking one down instantly, Jackson had enough time to see what the second one had to utter one word.

[Ruby: Poopie.

Weiss: Shit!

Blake: Crap.

Yang: Fuck!]

The rocket was in the air before his legs could respond, before someone even yelled out "RPG!". By some random stroke of luck, the rocket struck the entrance to the room Jackson was in without actually harming him. The man didn't even have time to blink before gunfire from three separate directions put him down.

[Ruby: Whew, good thing he was a bad shot.

Weiss: Better that apparently a simple plaster wall can stop a small rocket. I don't think I'll 'ever' get used to how little environment damage actually 'happens' in the game.]

Calming down as the last enemy fell, he waited about five seconds in case anyone else was in the mood to jump in. Either they ran out of men or they figured they should make a stand somewhere else.

If Jackson was the spiritual type, he might have paused a moment to give a prayer to all who had fallen for control of one piece of a television station. He might have asked himself why he decided to become a soldier in the first place if he was going to feel so disconnected from his peers that he just couldn't react when any of them were killed. But he didn't let himself do that. If he started questioning why he joined, that would make it all the easier for him to get killed.

[Ruby: Yeah..I think we're done here. I 'hope' we're done here. That was tiring.

Yang: Which part? Trying to stay super aware with a whole lot of things happening on screen? Or dying twice because of crappy luck?

Ruby: Not sure, but that was brutal. At a few points I was sure I wasn't even shooting to hit anyone, just shooting for the sake of feeling in 'some' kind of control. Didn't help that the first death was a rocket to the face and the second was a grenade that 'literally' exploded in mid-air before I could react.

Weiss: That was your grenade, which the enemy threw back. At the very least, it was an effective lesson to either cook them off or just not throw them.]

Only two people who had originally gotten into that room walked out, Jackson and Vasquez. Two or three fresh faces ran in as the lieutenant yelled, "Room clear! Move up! Al-Asad should be on the second floor!"

[Blake: They're not going to bother checking the bodies? They did that at the previous building.

Yang: After that mess, I'd say a number of those guys are in unrecognizable shape. Besides, if the guy's still making his speech, he's probably not getting his hands dirty.]

A small part of Jackson wondered why the squad suddenly got three fresh troops. Hell, the number of casualties the squad took when they entered the room 'had' to be larger than the number of troops they walked in with. The other just waited for Vasquez to open the next door. For some reason, after all the loud fighting they did in the previous room, the lieutenant wanted to open this door with more cautiously than the others they'd gone through today.

[Blake: A little late for any subtlety, lieutenant.

Ruby: After the brutal fight we just went through? I don't blame him for being a little less gung-ho.]

Slowly, he turned the handle with his left hand and awkwardly held his rifle with his right, poking it through the door as he scanned the room. It looked like the main entrance to the building. Compared to the rest of what he'd seen in the city, the foyer was downright luxurious. There two levels of those fancy indoor elevated walkway things with massive windows on each floor. Part of Jackson was a little embarrassed he didn't know the exact name for those things, but he wasn't about to ask. The ground floor seemed to have marble, or at least some other white stone tiles, and there were plenty of white pillars. The white surfaces were so clean that he wondered if Al-Asad actually 'killed' people who made even the smallest stain in this place.

The crowning achievement in desert dictator excesses, however, was all the greenery just outside the window. Bushes and trees that Jackson couldn't identify brought a startling amount of green to the otherwise tan landscape. And inside, on a raised platform, was a humble looking tree surrounded by grass. If it weren't for the fact that everything else in the city was so shabby, this building might not have felt so out of place, but as it was..wow.

[Weiss: If you're going to have a plant in your building, why choose something that dull and ordinary?

Blake: They look like they're living in a desert. 'Any' amount of green is probably a big deal to them. Still, I will admit seeing more trees just outside the building 'does' ruin the effect of the tree 'inside'.

Yang: I'm more curious how long this Asad guy's been in charge of this place, because there's no way he could have gotten all this done since he killed that president guy. Or did someone 'else' decide this one piece of the city should look 'this' much better than everything surrounding it?]

Shaking off the odd wrongness of what lay before them, the squad pushed forward. Just as Jackson noticed a rumbling noise just outside, someone in the squad said, "Oh yeah, there goes our boys!"

After the vicious shootout they'd just gone through, it was oddly encouraging to see an Abram's tank just rolling outside, alone, as if it had absolutely nothing to worry about in the area. And why would it? That tank was about sixty tonnes of badassery rolling through an area that the marines had been efficiently clearing out for several minutes. It wasn't moving frantically or cautiously, it was moving at a confident pace towards its next objective, with no one manning the machine-gun on top.

[Yang: Oh that has to be one of the most awesome things I've ever 'seen'!

Weiss: I've seen better.

Yang stared at the silver haired girl incredulously. "Better? It's 'literally' a massive cannon on wheels with a machine-gun on top and looks so armored that a 'deathstalker' would probably start feeling envious! What's not to love?!

Weiss gave her blond teammate a bored look as she ticked off fingers. "Firstly, the sort of terrain it can handle is probably rather limited. Legs and arms are just better than treads 'everywhere' except a flat, open surface. Secondly, that machine-gun on top looks like someone has to physically grab it to use it, exposing them. A mech doesn't put someone in danger like that if they need to use something for smaller, more agile targets. And thirdly, the previous fact makes it look like it has a crew of people inside. Excuse me for thinking that the supposedly more simple looking machine that seems to need multiple people inside to function properly is more poorly designed than the more complicated to build machine that only needs 'one' to reach its full potential. Need I continue?"

At some point in her little rant, Ruby had paused the game, and all three stared at Weiss with varying expressions. Yang was slack-jawed, unable to comprehend that the awesome machine she just saw was so easily derided after seeing it roll down a street for less than five seconds. Blake had an amused smile on her face, her eyes sending the very clear message "yeah, you had no grounds to complain about Ruby's observations of the gun earlier, you closet-geek". Ruby looked positively 'giddy' because Weiss had just proved they were a little more similar to eachother than the silver haired girl was willing to admit.

Now, Weiss was used to attention. She'd had plenty of eyes on her from the moment she left her mother's womb to the second she managed to outmaneuver her controlling father and get enrolled to Beacon instead of Atlas academy. Even at Beacon, she got plenty of attention in the short time she'd been here due to the combination of her looks, her family name, and her abilities in the classroom. But something about the current attention she was getting was..uncomfortable. The odd combination of embarrassment, smugness, and a few things she couldn't identify left her blushing. "Ah..anyway, let's continue. Ruby, please resume."]

As the squad approached the next door, Griggs' voice rang out on the radio. "Hold your fire! Friendlies coming out!"

For a moment, Jackson felt embarrassingly confused. He'd thought Griggs was with the squad earlier. When did he split off? Was he ever with the group at all before now? Was he just losing his mind? Whatever the answer, the door in front of the squad burst open and three men walked into the foyer, Sergeant Griggs front and center. "No sign of Al-Asad, sir."

Vasquez nodded, probably expecting that the first floor wouldn't have their target. "All right. Fall in, marines. Stay frosty."

[Ruby: Um, it's probably a little hard to be 'frosty' in a desert.

Blake: It's a phrase that means stay alert.

Ruby:..do you really need to 'tell' troops in a battle to stay alert when you're still in a dangerous area?]

Everyone moved up a nearby staircase and into a strangely doorless room. Well, doorless as in there wasn't an actual door there. The frame was set-up, but there weren't even any hinges to attach a door to. A pair of guns leaned against a wall between a pair of windows, a dragunov sniper rifle and a loaded RPG. It was kind of strange that they were just..laying there. First off, the enemy had been firing rockets pretty liberally ever since the operation started, the fact that a fully loaded launcher was just sitting forgotten was pretty odd. Secondly, he didn't recall any enemy snipers. Just guys with AK-47s and RPGs.

Ignoring the pair of guns, fresh battle noises just outside prompted Jackson to look out the window. Enemies were charging at the few marines tasked to cover the various exits to the building. Well, at least the enemy reinforcements were a promising sign that the enemy wanted to kick them out. It took two punches but Jackson broke the window, making it a little easier to aim down at the incoming enemy force.

[Weiss: Why did you use the knife to break the window? If it could be broken like 'that', then you could have just shot through it.

Ruby: Cracked glass can be a little tough to see through, and the game doesn't give us the option to just raise the window, so I had to open it another way.

Weiss:..the glass wasn't cracked, and given the way this game works, I doubt the cracks would have been 'too' obscuring.]

It was a slaughter, almost enough to make Jackson feel sorry for the poor bastards he was shooting. They tried taking cover behind cars..and only took into account where the guys on ground level were. Most of them didn't even 'think' to try taking cover from the marine shooting them from the second floor of the very building they were coming to reinforce. One or two of them stopped in the open to try shooting at him only to get cut down, and only one was smart enough to try using a nearby dumpster to hide from him only to expose himself to the guys on the ground. In around thirty seconds, countless dead enemies lay in the parking lot, the occasional car exploding to punctuate their defeat. It was oddly cathartic to deal with so many so quickly after the rough time they'd had in the central room.

Just as Jackson felt the attack was over, one last enemy came into view. Griggs opened up with his light machine gun before Jackson could even get his rifle into position. Maybe the sergeant was a little annoyed that Jackson took out several dozen guys today and he didn't get to have nearly as much fun. Maybe he just 'really' enjoyed his SAW's recoil when it was on full auto. Either way, he kept firing for a full three seconds after the target was 'definitely' dead, just peppering the ground with plenty of bullets. As soon as he was done, he started walking away and said on the radio, "Watch your six, Devil Dog."

[Blake: Ugh. He got the guy in the head with one of his first shots, I don't think the next forty were needed.

Yang: Hey, there's no kill like overkill.

Ruby: There's overkill and then there's just shooting at a dead body. Part of me wants to laugh. The other is suddenly 'very' worried about one of the guys we're fighting with.]

And with that, the squad didn't run into any more trouble. It was literally just a brisk walk with guns at the ready, with only a low altitude flight of allied fighters worth mentioning. When they finally reached the broadcasting studio, the squad awkwardly lined up in the thin hallway, everyone just 'itching' to get the job done.

Griggs leaned against the wall a second and said, "I think he's in there. I hear him."

Smugly, Vasquez told the soldier closest to the door to "do it". The marine, Private Davis, shot two of the door's hinges with his shotgun before kicking it open. The third hinge just couldn't take the force alone and the door collapsed with a dull thud that was easily overshadowed by around a dozen marines storming into the room single-file.

The room had plenty of lights on, a good amount of equipment and a blue screen to help superimpose whatever background they wanted..but there was no one in there. Just three or four screens playing the same footage Jackson had seen on every tv since he'd gotten here. Hoping that he was wrong, Jackson quickly moved to see if Al-Asad was hiding behind the blue screen. No.

[Blake: Somehow, I'm not surprised.

Ruby: All that..all that and he wasn't 'here'?!]

"Room clear!"

"He's not here."

"It's on a loop..the broadcast is a recording."

[Weiss felt herself start to blush again as Blake gave her a pointed stare. Giving a half-hearted 'shut-up' despite the fact the raven haired girl didn't say a word, she couldn't quite restrain a short giggle. Probably because she didn't know why she was amused that she was so blatantly wrong.]

Scoffing, Griggs mumbled, "Yeah..score one for military intelligence."

Frustrated at all the effort to reach an empty room, the lieutenant growled out, "Griggs, turn that off."

That seemed to improve the sergeant's mood at any rate. "Roger that. I got something better anyway."

As Griggs turned off the broadcast and started setting up a rap tune to replace it with, Vasquez did an admirable job of keeping the aggravation out of his voice as he spoke into his radio. "Command, this is Red Dog. The tv station is secure but there is no sign of Al-Asad. The broadcast is a recording, over."

Whatever their response was made the lieutenant regain control of his facial expression. Either it was good news, or it was just something sufficiently distracting that being pissed would be a waste of energy. "Roger that, Command. Out. Marines! Rally up! We got a new assignment. Get your gear and get ready to move out. Let's go!"

* * *

As the mission ended and the screen faded to black, Ruby put the controller down and started stretching her arms, groaning a little as she did so. Playfully mocking her, Yang began to do the same, making a point of arching her back and flexing her abs for added effect. Blake chuckled at that. "Really? I can see why Ruby would want to stretch a little, but it's not like you've been 'nearly' as stiff as she's been."

Yang shot back, "Considering some of the drills uncle Qrow put her through to get used to the sniper aspect of her scythe, sitting still with a light controller in her hand shouldn't be 'that' bad. Seriously, it's been how long? About an hour? She once had to do what was essentially skeet shooting for six straight hours, with the targets launching at random intervals from any of three different launchers. And she couldn't just dig her weapon into the ground to give herself some rest like she likes to. The skeets launched from too far apart and the ground was too hard for her to turn like that without breaking the blade. She's just being lazy."

Giving her sister a mild glare, Ruby mumbled, "As if 'you' could pull something like that off even 'once'."

Yang just leaned towards her, flexing her right arm and using her left hand to squeeze at the muscle. "Well I doubt I'd have the same trouble your tiny little arms had when I'm packing 'these' guns."

There was nothing Ruby could really say in response to that. So she did what she always did whenever Yang started bragging about things she had only seen and felt she could do better if she gave enough of a damn, not actually tried. Ruby grabbed the nearest pillow and wacked her right on the nose. And so a short pillow fight erupted between the sisters, with both Blake and Weiss looking on with varying combinations of bemusement and jealousy on their faces.

* * *

Closing notes: Well, I'd say it's about time I posted this chapter, wouldn't you? We'll see how long it takes for the next one to come along, but at least we're finally past the third mission of the game. Just fifteen more to go in the first Modern Warfare. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. See you next time.


	13. Chapter 13

Opening Notes: Well, plenty of people keep sending me various suggestions for some of the other games the girls should look at. I certainly appreciate the suggestions, and in the case of Weiss, a recent message from "curious viewer" especially caught my attention.

For a good while, I was thinking of having her do Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs the Soulless Army. My reasoning being it's a fairly long game with a good story where you defend Tokyo from the supernatural. The main character summons various creatures that used to be his enemies to aid him, and fights with a gun/sword combination. Though I will admit part of me wasn't looking forward to trying to pull it off within the timeline of volume 1, it's certainly a grindy game where you can spend a good amount of time not making any progress in the story, just leveling up your character. Hell, the admitted problems I had with it were tempting me to have the team play games out of their team's order and save W for volume 3's timeline. Still, I feel Weiss is one of the more patient members of the team, so that sort of thing wouldn't piss her off, I kind of fell in love with the idea that she'd take sort of weapon combo idea from the game and incorporate it into her own style, and the fact that volume 3 told us that the Schnees can summon creatures that they've beaten..well, that just added fuel to the fire.

But now I'm starting to rethink that. As much as the fighting style and summoning thing fit Weiss, I've got to admit she 'is' more the type to think her every move through, and that kind of game revolves more around patience, grinding, and occasionally stumbling on enemy weaknesses. Not organization and tactics. And just recently, I stumbled onto an old 360 game I've had that's been gathering dust (ha). Operation Darkness. It's got a very similar gameplay style as Valkyrie Chronicles, if a bit more forgiving gameplay and more questionable camera, is set during World War 2, and I'd say bits and pieces of the story will hit close to home for our little heiress. While it's also a long one, it's not so grindy so I can pull off the girls wanting to see where it goes regardless of how long it is to play through, and it's got a continuing narrative which makes it a little easier to pull off in the format I'm going for at this point than some other options I had in mind. I just have to finish replaying the thing before Ruby manages to finish Modern Warfare 2 and record the footage so I can call on that footage when I write.

And I may have mentioned this before, but I was planning on having Yang do the God of War series. She is a fighter who tends to let rage drive her actions, and God of War is a very brutal showcase of badassery with a very enraged main character who is morally ambiguous. Yang will probably be conflicted if she should like the guy for being an unstoppable killing machine, or disturbed that she's in any way similar to a man who would condemn an entire world to ruin for the sake of revenge. Definitely looking forward to that one.

So as it stands right now, the games the girls will be playing will be:

Volume 1

Ruby: Call of Duty Modern Warfare, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 (when I started LPing MW3 on my YouTube channel, I relearned why I didn't like it and decided not to put the girls through that disappointment. At least, not for the foreseeable future. We'll see what happens in the future. Thought about Advanced Warfare in its place, but after seeing Yang's..situation in the most recent episode..tempted to just have Ruby do two games)

Weiss: Operation Darkness

Due to the fact that Volume 2 and 3 are where things really start rolling, I can't decide if Blake or Yang should take over next and at what point in the main story. Here's the current ideas for what each girl will deal with.

Blake: Batman Arkham Origins, (possibly do Blackgate between Origins and Asylum, if only because it introduces Catwoman to Arkham universe), Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, Arkham Knight

Yang: God of War, God of War 2, God of War 3

Anyway, that should do it for 'all' the notes for this chapter. Considering how long the notes are, I hope the actual content of this chapter feels long enough to compensate for it. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to rage at 2K games for the rather iffy launch of XCom 2. Specifically the fact that my game seems to be opening at 0x0 resolution and mute.

* * *

Chapter 13

It was hard to say which part of the Ruby/Yang playful battle made Weiss feel oddly cheated. Sure, 'she' never got to do anything quite so spontaneous and light hearted with 'her' sister and probably never would even if the stars aligned and their relationship somehow became more..organic, for lack of a better word. Winter just wasn't the type to roughhouse, and it's not like Weiss 'wanted' to hit her sister over the head with a pillow. It's just..those two were so 'free' and 'open' with eachother, whatever expectations were heaped onto them didn't make things in any way awkward between them.

And based on how Blake was staring at them, the heiress wasn't the only one who wasn't quite sure what to feel about this glimpse into a different life. While she was smiling at their antics, and it was a natural one, the smile didn't really reach her eyes. Whatever made their teammates' antics a bitter kind of amusing, Blake was about as likely to discuss it as Weiss was going to whine about her own problems.

It didn't take long for the sisters to finish their little pillow fight and for Ruby to resume the game. As usual, the screen showed the USMC insignia again before going to the map and zooming in on the desert region.

[Newscaster: After heavy fighting today, US Marines began their push into the city where Al-Asad is making his last stand. Fighting has intensified in the Capital City. Anti-aircraft fire and burning buildings light the night.]

As a smaller green screen showed the gunfire lighting the sky, Weiss tried to think of any historical moment where that much anti-aircraft fire was in the sky. Nothing came to mind though since most history books focused on the action on the ground, and the only footage she'd ever came across of ground to air fighting was hunters and soldiers dealing with some nevermores. Hell, she wasn't entirely sure just how many anti-aircraft weapons there might be defended any of the kingdoms, even if she had a sense there were a few scattered across the walls.

The screen zoomed in on the city, with a smaller screen showing one of those tanks.

[Command: Roger on location. Repeating: Map Grid five-two-seven-six-one-niner, over.]

Now that caught Weiss off guard. "Why say the other five numbers normally and say the phonetic version of nine?"

Ruby seemed to stumble over that for a second. "Um, there's fanatic versions of numbers?"

Blake chuckled a little at Ruby's mishearing. "'Phone-etic', as in something you might say over a phone to make sure someone hears you correctly. Still, only saying that kind of exaggerated version of a number while leaving the others normal is a little strange."

Yang gave a wry smile. "Great. We've got a military terms geek, a weapon's geek, a vehicle geek..can something please come up where 'I' get to geek out?"

That prompted a bunch of giggles and chuckles, sounds that might actually start getting familiar to Weiss if the team really came closer together in the next four years. The thought made her smile a little wider.

[Vasquez: Bravo Six copies, over.

Command: Bravo Six, we have an Abrams dead in the water. Callsign War Pig. Lieutenant Vasquez, your unit is shotgun, over.

Vasquez: Copy. Bravo is inbound. Tell War Pig to stand by. We're on our way. Out.]

Yang's face twisted a little into a grimace. "'War Pig'? Really? That's the name they gave for their tank? What, were all the 'good' names taken?"

Smile shifting to something more mischievous, Weiss retorted, "Oh I don't know, it seems rather appropriate for some overcomplicated beast on treads."

Ruby giggled again at that, but Yang gave her a petulant look, and Blake had an..unreadable expression on her face. Strange, Weiss didn't think the raven haired girl was a fan of tanks like Yang, so what did she say to earn an intense, if stony, forced-to-look-unemotional stare?

* * *

The lieutenant didn't bother telling them what command wanted them to do until they were pretty far along the highway. Honestly, Jackson felt he could have told them at any point sooner than this, but at least they hadn't 'quite' run into the enemy yet. They were just close to doing so.

"Alpha Company's tank is stuck have a click north of here. We gotta hustle! Let's go!"

The dramatic arm waves were a little much, but if he wanted them to get moving, who was Jackson to argue? It's not like he could say no this deep in enemy territory. He 'could' however, continue to complain about 'when' the lieutenant decided to tell the squad what they were here for, because mere seconds after he gave that short briefing, a nearby building started spraying gunfire at them.

Three machine-guns that were heavily obscured by boards at the windows, making it difficult to accurately hit whoever was at each gun and impossible to know if some new enemy grabbed it until the gun opened fire again. The occasional rocket flew from a pair of windows further to the left, sometimes just flying into the sky and other times slamming into the highway, killing two or three marines at a time. And at the same level as the bridge was a balcony full of enemies just opening up with assault rifles.

[Ruby: Okay, I was somehow hoping it'd be a little more 'calm' at the start.

Yang: Hey, if you wanted easy, there were two lower difficulties to choose from.

Ruby: Oh I can beat this, I'm just saying this is a lot of gunfire to deal with at once.]

As tempting as it might have been to take cover behind some of the various cars, a lot of them were on fire and the soldiers who'd already had that idea were riddled in bullets. That just left charging forward, shooting at every source of bullets he could see and hope he somehow managed to get through alive.

Due to a combination of luck and speed, a decent portion of the squad managed to rush past the kill zone and down a flight of stairs to ground level. It wasn't a pleasant sight. The ground was uneven due to all the rubble, a few tables overturned in the chaos. There were fires inside the nearby buildings, highlighting every hole in the walls and the various parts of the ceiling just..dangling. There was literally one bit of ceiling hanging on by some rather strained electrical wires. It made the more run down sections of town he'd seen last time look about as luxurious as the TV station did in comparison.

The ground shook as a helicopter was shot down somewhere close by, the screeching sound of metal twisting combined with the boom of a secondary explosion and whatever it crashed into crumbling underneath. Jackson was knocked out of his observant, disconnected haze as Vasquez yelled, "Keep moving forward! Switch to night vision now!"

And so he entered what was left of an apartment building, pulling his night vision goggles on as he did.

[Weiss:..not sure that was the right call to make there.]

Once he got through the door, the night vision was a mixed blessing. On one hand, he could perfectly see everything in the small portion of the ruined building he was in. On the other hand, everything outside was a constant mix of darks and lights that it was hard to distinguish anything other than walls in the hazy of varying shades of green.

[Ruby: Well, the part of the..broken building we just walked into 'is' pretty dark.

Weiss: And the building has so many holes and so many fires that it's 'impossible' to see much of 'anything' through those goggles. You'd be better off without them!]

Considering how hard it was to see enemy fire with the goggles on, Jackson tore them back off. It was actually amazing how much more effective his own bare eyes were in this environment. Lights from various fires and street lights made distinguishing humans from the various bits of wall pretty easy. Granted, it was a little more difficult than usual to tell the difference between the uniforms of both sides, but frankly, he'd prefer the increased chance of friendly fire over being 'completely' blind.

Of course, visibility barely mattered when an enemy just pops up from behind a wall like a cardboard target and opens fire. It was little more than a minor scare, the guy didn't manage to land a single shot. Still, it highlighted just how chaotic things were outside, forcing the squad to find a more complete building to take cover in. Weaving around the wall of bullets as best he could, shooting at absolutely anything that wasn't either running to the squad's unspoken destination or from the building behind, what should have been two minutes felt more like twenty.

[Yang: Dear god this is just 'vicious'. How many went down in less than two minutes?!

Blake: That's what happens when someone without an aura goes into battle.

Yang: There's 'literally' a wall of bullets out there! I don't think aura would be much help, just the bad guys having iffy aim or picking someone else to shoot!]

What they finally ended up in might have been an apartment building or hotel in a previous life. Right now though? It was just a darkened structure with a hole large enough for a tank to roll through. It was doubtful an actual tank had rolled through here, though. The hallway inside was too thin, and there was no sign of any other holes on this level. If anything, the battle damage arguably made it a more appealing looking place. The rubble just barely hid some dead roaches, the dust obscured various bits of water damage in the interior walls. All the battle had done was speed up the decay.

Vasquez took cover just inside, trading fire with various enemies trying to swarm them from the broken walls. "Jackson, you and Roycewicz head upstairs. We'll cover this entrance. Go!"

If he was going to use the night vision at all, it was just as well he did so when everything in front of him was dark. Hanging back for a moment to slide the goggles back on, part of him wanted to snarl when his vision returned. Really? Roycewicz, whoever he was, had charged ahead blindly, literally, and ran into an enemy halfway up the stairs. As the pair struggled for the assault rifle, Jackson lined up the shot and several bullets burst straight through the bastard's gut.

Groaning in agony, holding what was left of his inners as he fell against a wall, the enemy lifted his free hand as if it would somehow convince Roycewicz not to finish him. It didn't. Two shots to the head and yet another nameless foe was no longer a problem.

[Blake:..now 'that' was vicious.

Ruby: I don't know if I should call this awesome or feel a little sick.

Yang: Nothing wrong with both, sis.]

Once Jackson reached the next floor, there had to be around ten enemies lined up right in front of him, all of them focused on shooting whatever Americans were still outside. One managed to spot Jackson and start screaming for his allies to take cover, but it was pointless. Eight men were cut down before they even had a chance to react.

Roycewicz yelled into the radio, "Watch your fire! We're on the second floor!"

As Jackson started advancing, someone responded, "Roger that, shifting fire."

One of the two who escaped the previous slaughter tried poking his head from behind a door, and wound up shot for his trouble. He didn't even have time to poke his head through the same door, just dead the instant he was visible.

[Weiss: On one hand, this is a nice come-uppance for a group that was slaughtering civilians. On the other, I don't think 'any' of us were prepared for just how..'gritty' things would get.

Blake tried to hide a wince. She 'was' expecting something like this eventually, the scene where the president was shot certainly showed the game designers weren't going to pull any punches, and she had first hand knowledge of what an actual gunfight between two groups trying to kill eachother was actually like. Thankfully, nobody noticed, too engrossed with the action on screen.]

As they got to the end of the hall and entered the room, the pair opened fire on a man hiding behind a couch, shredding the furniture until it was no longer recognizable and the man behind it lifeless. "Clear!"

The room may have been clear, but bullets slammed into Jackson from behind. Spinning around, he saw a massive hole in the wall, and a green haze that prevented him from seeing exactly who was firing at him from where. The light from outside was messing his equipment up too much..and it cost Jackson his life.

{"Cost of a single F-117A Nighthawk: $122 million." Unknown.}

* * *

Ruby slumped against the couch, groaning. "Really? Shot from behind by guys we couldn't even see? That was just..ouch. I 'thought' I was being careful!"

Blake shrugged at that. "Well, you've got to be aware of your surroundings. You were expecting a wall there, it didn't exist, and you paid for it."

Double checking the fridge, Yang chuckled a little. "If it's going to be that intense from beginning to end, we're not going to have enough drinks for this. And 'damn' do I need a drink right now, I don't care 'what'. That was 'intense'."

Shifting in her seat a little, Weiss agreed. "I think the room's getting a little warm, which probably isn't helping matters..maybe opening the windows should help?"

At that, Ruby let out a short giggle. "Well, it 'does' help' make us feel like we're actually in the desert they're fighting in. I vote we keep 'em closed a little longer."

Getting up to deal with the windows herself, Blake replied, "It's all well and good to get immersed in a story, but let's deal with this before it gets legitimately uncomfortable."

* * *

End note: Yeah, I know that's yet 'another' abrupt place to end a chapter on, but it is 'exhausting' giving that much detail to fast paced games. Here's hoping I release the next chapter sooner than I did this one.


	14. Chapter 14

Author's Note: Once again, apologies for this chapter taking so long. There was always something popping up that seemed to take a little more priority. Family issues, money issues, how much easier it is to spend the day working on LP stuff for my Youtube channel instead of writing for this story..dear god, I need to find a better way to organize my time for all the things I need and want to do in a given day. The strange part is it wasn't the character's reactions that slowed me down, it was transcribing the game's events.

And I absolutely need to say this, Volume 3 was a beating. It's well written, the best written so far, but still..the fandom has taken some casualties. Roman, Pyrrha, and Penny are out of the game, and Yang's gotten the Skywalker treatment. Not too sure how I'm going to take that into account as the fics roll on, I'm not even through the timeline of Volume 1 yet.

There's also the fact that my mental image of Adam was shattered in a big way. Here I was expecting someone like Zechs from Gundam Wing, a guy who is a rather noble villain. That they separated because Adam had completely given up on equality and just wanted faunus dominance, but Blake still held onto some hope, and while they both still respect eachother in their own ways, their methods are just too different for them to work together anymore. And what we get is an older stalker who seems to have downright abused Blake even 'before' she abandoned the Fang. Kind of wish we knew what he was like back in Blake respected him, assuming she didn't have the wrong idea about him from the start, and the vibes I was getting from him in that fight scene were raising all kinds of red flags. Needless to say, I am going to ignore the official idea of him in my writing, and all his appearances in this story will take my previous mental image of him into account.

Now, this fic and my probably abandoned fic of Heart of the Scythe exist because I wanted to have fun developing the team into something as close as if not closer than a family. Yes, I'm a big fan of the whole Pollination thing. There's just something about how all four girls play off eachother that, regardless of if you think there are any romantic feelings between them, can be rather heart warming, so the fact that the team split up the way they did..as much as I respect the growth in writing skill, that was 'quite' the harsh blow.

Let's try to put that sort of stuff out of our minds for now, though, and continue on watching the team play through and react to Call of Duty Modern Warfare.

* * *

Chapter 14

Clearing the Building

"Jackson, you and Roycewicz head upstairs. We'll cover this entrance. Go!"

Taking a moment to flip his night-vision over his eyes, Jackson had to resist sighing when he saw Roycewicz just rush blindly up the stairs. Dear god, if that was the quality of the guy who was supposed to back him up, he was probably better off alone. The instant he saw an enemy start wrestling with Roycewicz, he quickly lined up his gun and tore through both of them.

Roycewicz died near instantly, the bullets going straight through his flack vest and into the man he was wrestling, at least two of them ripped their way through his heart. The man he was wrestling wasn't so lucky. He suffered a slow, painful death as his punctured lungs filled with blood, falling on all fours and crawling to a section of wall feebly before turning to try glaring at Jackson, or at least his shadow.

[Yang: Whoa! What the hell Ruby?!

Ruby: I didn't mean to! It's just..the whole snap-aim thing just goes for center mass, and both of their chests just happened to line up with eachother right then!

Blake 'knew' that was probably the case, but she couldn't put a lot of humor into her voice. "Yeah, likely story."

Ruby: Seriously, I'll just pause and go back to the last checkpoint. It's not like we went that fa..

Ruby stared at the pause screen for a moment, not sure she should believe it. Resume Game, Controls, Options, Restart Level, Save and Quit..but nothing that mentioned checkpoints.

Weiss: Oh come on, it's not like the game does anything to make you care about the standard grunts anyway. It's literally no big deal.

For half a second, Blake wanted to say something cutting about how Weiss was pretty casual with life..then she remembered they were talking about a death in a video game. "Ye..yeah, no big deal. Just try not to get in the habit of team killing. I'd rather not have to worry when we're out on the field."

Based on the surprisingly cute glare on Ruby's face, she was taking this about as seriously as Blake. "Oh no, we managed to save him the first time so I'm going to make sure we do this right and save him again!"]

Within seconds, Jackson's conscience caught up to him and he realized just how 'cold' it was to 'purposely' kill an ally just to kill another enemy. So he did the first thing that came to mind. He went rushing upstairs himself, saw several enemies in a hallway, and ran straight at them. It wasn't until he was right in the center of them that they even noticed he was there, and it took a few seconds before any of them reacted to that.

Several just took off running, very likely freaked out that a marine was standing without a care so close to them. It was the sort of thing Hollywood loved doing to make the good guys look even more badass. Only one had the sense to attack him, ramming his rifle against Jackson's face until he fell. His last thoughts before the man finished him off with a volley of assault rifle shots was 'dear god, I probably could have done a decent amount of damage if I didn't come up here for the sole reason of dying'.

{"Keep looking below surface appearances. Don't shrink from doing so just because you might not like what you find." Colin Powell}

[Yang couldn't help noticing two very different reactions to the quote on the screen. Blake looked like she'd gotten slapped across the face with someone's brown-streaked underwear, insulted but too stunned that it happened for her brain to fully compute what happened. Weiss had more of a thoughtful expression, taking a moment to stare at Ruby. It was hard to say which reaction made her more curious.

Blake didn't know if she'd somehow gotten some rather thin proverbial skin after leaving the White Fang or if Yang somehow 'knew' her past and had picked this game to push her buttons. It was hard to really say if she was feeling more 'comfortable' around her teammates, but at the very least she felt..freer to say whatever was on her mind than usual. It was progress, at least..even if this was a rather brutal way to go about it.

Something about that quote made Weiss wince, remembering how she reacted to not being team leader not too long ago. She was 'born' to lead, it was her 'destiny' to revive the good name of the Schnee Dust Company. Beacon was supposed to be her first step, and what happened? Someone two years younger and about a decade less mature was made team leader. Somehow she thought it was a mistake..despite the fact Ruby was the one who thought of the plan that killed the Nevermore at initiation. Add in the fact that Jaune, someone she considered an absolute waste of oxygen, was leader of a team with Pyrrha Nikos of all people, and it was hard not to question what Beacon considered leadership material. Were they just insane, or was there something Weiss was completely blind to? And if she was blind to it, then how could she learn to 'see' that quality?]

"Jackson, you and Roycewicz head upstairs. We'll cover this entrance. Go!"

Quickly shoving his night vision goggles on, Jackson followed his impromptu partner up the stairs. When some jackass rushed from behind the corner to start wrestling with Roycewicz, he took a moment to line up his shot..and sent a four bullet spray into the enemy's crotch. The poor bastard was too pained to even scream, bleeding out as untold damage to his genitals and whatever else was in the bullets' path made his knees go weak. Out of sheer mercy at that point, the two marines each put two more rounds in his head.

[Yang: Ookaay, eviscerating people's dicks a little often around here. Anything you have to say about that, sis?

What Yang was 'hoping' for was another moment of Ruby being embarrassed, not for Weiss to offhandedly say, "I like it. You see an opening, you take it. Throat, knees, groin, whatever."

Ruby had sort of an uncomfortable smile, unwilling to say anything either way. On one hand, it was nice to hear 'some' manner of respect from her partner. On the other, that wasn't really wanted she wanted respect for.]

Once Jackson was at the top of the stairs, it took maybe two seconds for him to clear the hallway. Anyone who didn't run was cut down before they could react, and many of them conveniently lined up in such a way that his bullets took down more than one at a time. Just as he started pushing forward from the doorway, someone burst from a door directly to his right, gun blazing as he caught the marine flat-footed despite his caution.

[Ruby: Oh crap!

Yang: He just came out of 'nowhere'!

Blake: Where was that guy the 'other' times you went through there?!]

There was no time for him to react, his body shaking too much from bullets impacting for him to even aim his gun. Pulling the trigger, hoping to hit 'something', he retreated back behind the doorway he came from, eyes seeing a 'very' worrying amount of red. Once his vision cleared up, something struck him: why didn't he die just there? That man had him dead to rights, could have easily chased him to the stairs.

Poking his head through the door, there was Roycewicz. It looked like he'd tackled the guy who'd nearly killed Jackson and shoved his combat knife through the bottom of his chin. As the other marine struggled to get his knife out of the skull, the pair of them shared a look that seemed to say "we're even".

[Weiss: Ookaay..didn't see that one coming.

Yang: Certainly seems fair. You saved his bacon, he saved yours.]

And with that, the pair pushed forward, Roycewicz in front. They each picked a door in the hallway, lifted their guns and opened fire. While Roycewicz just sprayed shots at the enemies hiding behind what was left of the wall, Jackson picked off anyone who stood up to run away. It was actually some pretty inspirational, unprompted teamwork that Jackson couldn't help wishing was more common in their unit.

They burst into the ruined room they just cleared, Roycewicz standing just in front of a door near the back, bullets striking near but not actually hitting him. Jackson threw a flashbang into that room, making whoever was in there cry out in pain and prompting Royce to charge in. Hoping that the other marine would be able to handle that problem, Jackson spun around, using the very cover the enemy had been behind to avoid bullets coming from the other side.

[Weiss: Is it just me or did the AI seem to get more..intelligent there?

Ruby: Don't complain.

Weiss: I am 'not' complaining..am I complaining?

Yang: Yes, you're honestly complaining that it's not harder.

Blake: It's actually quite the talent, you find things to complain about when there are none.

Weiss drooped a little into her seat, mumbling, "You aren't much better."

It was oddly comforting to see Blake wince at that.]

Vasquez cried over the radio, "Hit their flank with their machine gun!"

[Ruby: Oh no, last time we got on that gun every enemy focused on us. I think I prefer the way they're shooting right now.]

Ignoring the machine-gun next to him, Jackson knelt down and sprayed at every enemy he could see. The combination of dust in the area and the questionable lighting made it tough for him to zero in on the enemy, but it wasn't completely impossible. For the hell of it, he tried putting his night vision back on..and hissed as it didn't help in the least. He was still aiming at vague humanoid shadows, hoping that whenever one of them went down they'd stay down. Thankfully no one seemed keen on playing possum in the firefight. About ten seconds of playing hide and seek with questionable eyesight later, Roycewicz cried out "Clear!"

At the same time, Command came through on the radio. "Be advised, more enemy troops are converging on the tank. Get there A.S.A.P.."

Jackson was reloading when the lieutenant responded, "Roger that, we're working on it! Out!"

* * *

Ending notes: Part of me wanted to make this chapter a little longer. The other figures this was a good enough stopping point for now, and that we've all waited more than long enough for this story to continue. Hopefully the next chapter won't take nearly as long to pump out.


	15. Chapter 15

Author's Note: Well, I think I've found a good source of inspiration, at least for now. Playing through some Warhammer 40k video games. Though now I've got the image of Weiss being a commissar ("I will have someone's 'head' for this!") and Yang having several more lost limbs and a missing eye so she could be a proper warboss ("WAAAAAAAGH!"). Not too sure about Ruby and Blake, though. Warhammer isn't exactly the sort of universe they'd feel..comfortable with. Just about everyone's an asshole and the entire universe is doomed no matter who wins. You can't call anyone heroes..even if some are too noble to consider villains, either.

Now, let's get moving with the rest of this mission. Will they reach the tank before this chapter ends? Will my chaotic schedule let me have a more steady stream of updates? I certainly hope so, this fic is pretty fun to work on and I hate leaving it sitting around about as much as you people probably hate waiting for the next chapter to read.

* * *

Chapter 15

Several Shipments of Bad News

Flipping his night vision back on as he reentered the hallway, Jackson saw a pair of marines breaching a door. Though oddly enough, his eyes were more drawn to the symbol spray-painted next to it. Crudely painted over a detailed image of an assault rifle was a pair of curved swords and a star, the paint streaking down almost like tear drops before it'd dried. It kind of reminded him of when he was the type to spray burners on random dumpsters.

[Yang: Looks like somebody screwed up their fancy little paint job.

Blake: Well, dripping from the sword could symbolize blood, but the drip lines from the star? Yeah, they didn't care.

Weiss: I don't think you 'need' to go in there, Ruby.

Ruby: Well, no harm in helping our guys clear the building before we go where we need to be.]

After blasting the hinges with a shotgun, they kicked the door down. Without thinking, Jackson went into the room with them. While one of them opened up on an enemy to their left, Jackson turned to the right just in time to see someone rushing into the room, raising his gun. It was almost funny how he fell when Jackson shot him, like he'd run into a clothesline around neck level. His bottom kept moving forward while his top went back until all of him hit the floor.

That was when one of the other marines threw something through the door, into yet another door, yelling "Grenade!"

Waiting just long enough to see an explosion and seeing a body fly out, Jackson went back to the hallway and down the stairs.

[Ruby: Yeah, they've got this one.]

Explosions and the sound of constant gunfire all around, with the occasional marine yelling "Clear!" or "Targets in the open!" made it tough to tell just how the fight was going. Once he got to ground level, he saw only one marine paying attention to the way they entered the building from. The guy was mostly just scanning the area behind them, making sure nothing came up from the rear. Considering the way he was letting his gun hang loosely, he seemed to be taking an unofficial break in the middle of the chaos.

Unfortunately, Jackson didn't have the option to join him. Turning right and going through the door where the majority of the squad was pinned, it was a rather grim scene, and given the lighting, he felt he needed his night vision off to fully appreciate it.

Just about everyone had picked a window and was spraying fire outside, and given the number of muzzle flashed out there, the bastards were damn near 'everywhere'. On rooftops, on ground level. It was hard to really say 'where' he should go. For a moment, Jackson almost went to a free window with an air conditioner still inside it, but Griggs rushed past him, kicked the already bullet-ridden machine outside, and used the opening to just pour bullets all over the place. He and a lot of the others weren't even bothering to aim, it was more like they were trying to convince some of the enemies to stop shooting with the sheer weight of their own fire.

[Ruby: Ugh, 'such' a waste of bullets. If you're going to shoot, at least 'try' to hit something!

Yang: They're hitting plenty of things.

Ruby: Name three.

Yang: The walls, the dirt, and the occasional abandoned car.

Ruby groaned at the impish smile on her sister's face, mentally smacking herself for walking right into that one.]

After several seconds of just letting his gun fire as rapidly as possible, either overheating his weapon or just running out of ammo, Griggs had to stop as he yelled, "Sir, there's a ton of them out there!"

The lieutenant actually managed to kill someone on a rooftop before he had to toke cover, enemy fire increasing towards his window since Griggs' significant amount of fire was paused. "Shut up and keep 'em pinned down!"

Reloading his gun as quickly as he could, childishly blowing on it to try cooling it down a little, Griggs managed to say, "Roger that, suppressing fire!"

[Weiss: I don't think suppressive fire does anything if the enemy is 'that' spread out.

Blake: When things are 'that' chaotic, you kind of need to do 'something'. Sitting around and waiting until someone thinks of the perfect plan just makes it easier for the enemy to do whatever they please. Besides, making one group of enemies take cover means there's one less group actively shooting our guys.]

Heading to the next room, Jackson finally found a free window. Ignoring the dead marine laying right in front of it, he quickly started adding his bullets to the mix. Three, four, five, it didn't seem to matter how quickly he took enemies down at street level, there were always more coming into the mix. Hell, most of the enemy probably didn't even 'need' to take cover, the number of targets was downright insane. Consciously, Jackson knew there couldn't be more than a few dozen out there, but it certainly 'felt' like hundreds.

As he took down yet another one near a dumpster, a metallic bounce reached his ears despite the din of gunfire. "GRENADE, GET OUT OF THERE!"

His window was literally two feet away from the explosive, and without thinking he started running to the left, into a dark room. It was genuinely surprising to see that there weren't any enemies attacking this part of the building, and it looked like someone else, a corporal Rorke, had noticed it as well. Charging out the door and into a nearby building, he started shooting the inattentive bastards he found inside.

[Yang: All right, nice to see some of these guys doing more than just sitting around and taking potshots.

Weiss: They 'have' been doing more than that, I just don't think it's working. And shouldn't he have told the lieutenant what he was doing?]

Picking a spot near the empty doorframe, Jackson resumed shooting at the enemies at street level. It was less a matter of him being nervous about charging into an enemy held building, and more just the sheer instinct to kill as many enemies as possible, and there were plenty to choose from out there. Unfortunately, they just kept coming. It didn't matter if they were taking cover on top of a growing pile of bodies, it didn't matter that for every dead marine there were half a dozen dead enemies, their morale just wouldn't break. And that was starting to do something to Jackson's morale.

[Blake: I know it's a game, but you'd think they'd have the sense 'not' to run to the 'exact' same cover as someone who just got shot.

Yang: Well, they're calling the shots, and if you 'can' call the shots, it's better to go on offense than defense regardless of how much it hurts.

Blake: It's easy to say that in a one on one fight. It's another thing entirely to say that when getting hurt means people getting killed.]

After shooting down a third person from the balcony, seeing even more enemies rush into cover to keep the rest of the squad pinned in the building, Jackson had enough and followed Rorke's example, entering the nearby building and hoping to gain some ground. The bottom floor was surprisingly clear, if you ignored the four corpses. It looked like Rorke managed to push them upstairs, but only managed to make it halfway up himself. Cautiously getting to the staircase, there didn't seem to be anyone guarding it anymore. A fatal flaw for the bastards.

At the top, Jackson spun around, killing two men shooting at the squad from a pair of windows. Someone started stepping through a doorway, but he was cut down before he even raised his gun. After that, it was rather trivial to clear out the second floor. Everyone up there was too distracted by the rain of bullets at ground level.

Soon enough, around half a dozen marines poured into the now cleared building, and the fight at ground level started to turn. With two points of gunfire to focus on and most of the enemy caught between them, they stumbled, trying to decide which wall of bullets to pay more attention to before they were cut down. While there were still plenty trying to pour into the streets to fight them back, the situation was firmly in the marine's control at this point, with no casualties taken as enemies fell with ease.

[Weiss: Looks like things are starting to wind down.

Ruby: Good. After this mission, I'm going to need a break..this is getting 'pretty' intense.]

Just as it looked like the enemy would finally break and the squad would be able to push forward, someone next to Jackson on the second floor flinched at a fresh source of gunfire, yelling, "Contact! On the overpass!"

Turning to look, enemies with assault rifles and RPGs opened fire from a highway bridge that somehow managed to remain undamaged. The enemy didn't have much cover, and technically speaking, the M4A2 assault rifle was more accurate than an AK-47. But the people who made those technical determinations assumed that both guns were shooting at the same targets from the same spot with no outside stresses. As it was? The fresh gunfire and explosions so soon after coming so close to beating the enemy back didn't do 'any' of the marines' accuracy any favors.

[Yang: Oh come on! Where did 'those' guys come from?!

Blake: The entire 'city' is a warzone. I wouldn't be surprised if they were heading somewhere else and just 'stumbled' onto this fight.]

Jackson managed to take two from the bridge down before someone on ground level threw a grenade right next to him. Sprinting back to the stairs, hearing explosions and gunfire all around him, he tried to ignore the instinct to just keep running, finding a window downstairs to shoot from.

The lieutenant sounded somewhere between frustrated and furious. "U.A.V. recon has spotted enemy tanks headed this way!"

[Blake: When it rains, it pours.

Ruby: I don't mind rain, I mind the several shipments of bad news coming at the same time!]

His voice shifted to something with some measure of authority despite his very clear desire to just curse up a storm. "Private West, get on the roof and hit 'em with the Javelin!"

West was one of the few who'd decided to push into the street when the tide looked like it was turning in their direction."Right away si-"

West didn't finish his sentence, he didn't even manage to move from behind the destroyed car he'd chosen as cover. Eight of the enemies with rocket propelled grenades decided to fire at once, with no particular target in mind. By some sick turn of luck, one of them struck West's cover, sending shrapnel right under his chin with the velocity to tear right out the top of his head.

[Weiss: Oh..kay..you might want to start moving for the rocket launcher, Ruby.]

It was hard to say who screamed the words, but it gave Jackson a rather sinking feeling. "Private West is down! West is down!"

Someone else managed to shoot two of the people who shot rockets at them as he yelled, "Jackson, get the Javelin!"

[Ruby: I was kind of hoping someone else would step up.]

Already halfway to the dropped weapon, Jackson barely paid attention to Vasquez saying something about the rocket launcher. He just grabbed the weapon, ran back into the building, got back to the second floor. It didn't look like a good spot to fire a rocket launcher regardless of if he was in a good position for it, the enemy was firing bullets and rockets far too frequently up there. The price the squad paid for being a bit too predictable..or just plain dealing with enemies who had the high ground and a lot of ammo.

Switching to his assault rifle, Jackson didn't know if he killed four or forty enemy infantry before the first tank rolled up. No matter how many he took down, it felt like the roof was just 'way' too unsafe, but frankly they were running out of time. The tank's cannon was turning right for the building he was standing on, so he switched to the rocket launcher, locked onto the target, pulled the trigger..and the rocket didn't fire. The message "not enough room to fire" flashed across the targeting screen.

[Ruby: You've 'got' to be kidding me!]

Cursing under his breath, he rushed into the hail of gunfire, feeling himself take several hits as he kept the lock and frantically kept pulling the trigger. Come on, launch! Just as it looked like the tank might fire, the rocket finally went out, going airborne, flying higher than the bridge.

[Blake: You locked on and it 'still' missed?!]

Retreating back into the building, loading another rocket into the Javelin, Jackson watched with a certain smug satisfaction as the rocket changed directions, screaming back down onto tank's top. He could practically 'see' the shockwave as the explosive struck, knocking plenty of nearby enemies down as the tank went up in a fireball. Sure, it was 'technically' in one piece, but nobody inside or near it was going to survive 'that'. "Target destroyed!"

[Weiss: I don't care if that hit a weak spot on that thing, if gravity somehow enhanced the impact, or both. That was..wow!]

Taking a moment to send a fresh stream of bullets at the stunned enemies, most of the infantry on the bridge still standing were already starting to pull back. Once he was sure the gunfire was down to a less insane level, Jackson went back onto the open roof, pulling out the rocket launcher again. When the second tank was destroyed, the others seemed to decide this random skirmish wasn't worth the losses they were taking and tried rolling away. Unfortunately for them, Jackson wasn't in the mood to let any of those tanks get away. Two more rockets went out, and since the Javelin could lock onto them even through buildings, the poor bastards didn't have a chance to escape.

"Good shot, man!"

[Ruby: Kind of feels awkward to be called a good shot on a weapon that pretty much aims itself.

Yang: Take the compliment and enjoy the fireworks, sis.]

"Okay..that's the last of 'em."

Before anyone could say anything in relief, War Pig's crew sent a rather frantic message. "Bravo Six, we're taking heavy fire on our position north of the overpass! Where the hell are you?!"

Lieutenant Vasquez didn't let any of the strain of that last firefight enter his voice as he replied, "We're almost there, just hang on!"

[Ruby: Oh yeah, here comes the cavalry!

Blake: Cavalry traditionally ride something to battle, you know.

Ruby: Yeah, but it sounds better than "here come the worn out guys who fought like hell and are hopefully enough to rescue you".

Blake: Point taken.]

* * *

End Note: I have 'got' to set aside more time in a week to write for this story. This is pretty damn fun and I'm getting frustrated at how slowly I'm writing it.


	16. Chapter 16

Opening Notes: Well there's no way they aren't reaching the tank by 'now'. Dear god, sixteen chapters and we're still in the fourth mission. This is going to be a 'long' series if each mission is going to last this long.

Anyway, kind of went into a Youtube posting frenzy since as of Saturday April 8th, I've got a new apartment. And within a single day of being there, there was a short power outage that knocked my computer out cold for two days. Managed to get it fixed, but still annoying.

Without further ado, it's time for RWBY to continue the game.

* * *

Chapter 16

"The tank's on the other side of that overpass! Come on, let's get back to the squad!"

Jackson didn't even bother trying to figure out who said that, he just ran to the ground floor and met up with what was left of the squad at a fence. One of the battle weary troops pulled a spray can out, almost smirking at some unknown joke.

[Blake: Really? They're spray painting a 'chain link' fence?

Yang: Well, sometimes you've just got to let the inner artist free.

Weiss: It's a chain link fence. You're not going to be able to paint 'anything'!]

Moving the can in an arc, the more he sprayed, the less stable the fence became. It wasn't that it was outright detaching wherever he sprayed, more like the metal was degrading enough for someone to finish tearing the fence from its hinges. That someone being him, and Jackson could swear he was 'giggling' a little as he pulled back and flopped onto his butt for a few seconds.

[Yang just had to smirk a little at that. "Ah yes, the art of destruction. It doesn't always have to be explosives and fire for it to be awesome."

Blake's brain temporarily froze, a horrifying thought coming to mind. Some of the White Fang members were bloodthirsty enough to do some pretty horrifying things to people they decided weren't pro-faunus to them. Half the time it felt like they were just looking for excuses to be as brutal, sometimes taking their time with a given victim. If 'those' psychos ever got their hands on acid in a spray can..

Weiss:..huh, that's actually kind of clever. Who thought of..

Weiss cut herself off as she saw the name of the soldier who sprayed the fence. Corporal Yang. And that's when she started laughing hysterically, Ruby joining her while Yang herself tilted her head in confusion. "Um..why is my name in the game?"

Somehow, Blake felt herself start to smile despite some of her darker thoughts. "Either it's a coincidence, or someone 'knew' you'd eventually go through this game and see that name. Tell me, how does it feel to be a 'guy', Yang?"

That got everyone laughing, and while part of Blake didn't want to let go of the darker thoughts, she was honestly starting to enjoy herself with her team. This feeling..she could certainly get used to it.]

Once the squad got through the fence, they started running through an area that was a lot more shabby. Jackson didn't think it was possible, but apparently the slums around here were somehow worse than all the battle damage inflicted across the city.

There were a lot of makeshift buildings, clearly put together from whatever scrap metal happened to be convenient at the time rather than anything someone would intend to use as a wall. Hell, a storefront gate was potentially thicker and more insulated than those things. And apparently, nobody felt tempted in any way to waste paint, even spray-paint, on any of these surfaces. At best, there were some posters and papers taped to various things.

Several fires were lit in various dumpsters, the unattended flames spreading to piles of cardboard boxes. It was hard to say if those fires were supposed to keep people warm at night, or if they were just another result of battle damage. Either way, it was both beautiful and disturbing, especially with anti-aircraft fire, stray bullets, and various rockets darting through the sky behind.

[Yang's smile faded at the bleak imagery she was seeing. "Okay..so maybe fire isn't 'always' awesome."

Weiss: Too much of 'anything' can be bad in its own ways. You've just got to know how to avoid going to extremes.

Both Ruby and Blake gave Weiss short little stares. Ruby's was one of "why aren't you this understanding when I need a break from studying or doing homework" mixed with "yeah, I should probably need 'less' cajoling to get things done". Blake's was more of a mix of "I never thought I'd hear a Schnee talk about avoiding extremes" and "sometimes you just don't know it's extreme until you find things to compare it to". Neither felt now was the time to actually 'say' what they were thinking, though.]

As the squad was directly underneath the overpass, stray rockets began streaking right over their heads, and the distant sounds of battle started to sound extremely close. Once they reached a solid stone wall with some spray painted Arabic, the swords and star symbol, and an AK-47, they were practically right in the thick of it again. Bracing himself, Jackson ran alongside the wall until it ended, then took cover behind an abandoned car.

Vasquez took a moment to try surveying the situation, but it was difficult with all the dust in the air coupled with sporadic lighting from the few buildings with electricity and the numerous fires. All that was really obvious was that there was a lot of movement from those buildings, and the tank was just sitting out in the open. "Alpha Six, what's your status, over?"

[Ruby: We're right there, do we 'really' need a report when the enemy's right there and obviously still attacking?!

Blake: It's better to take a moment or two rather than create any confusion when you're trying to help. Trust me.]

The squad was already getting into defensive positions around the tank, taking whatever cover they could find and shooting at the vague shapes that were very definitely carrying AKs and 'very' determined to push the Americans back. "We're still surrounded, sir! There's just the four of us left but the tank's still ok, over!"

Nodding at that, Vasquez tried to give a little more coherency in the squad's efforts. "Contacts to the east and more flanking to the south! Hold the perimeter!"

A surprisingly relaxed voice went over the radio. "Bravo Six, this is War Pig. The main gun's offline but we still have our machine gun."

[Now Blake's grin became downright mischievous. "Funny, last time I checked if a mech's weapons stop working, 'all' of them stop working. Something about how they're wired.."

Weiss didn't disappoint, sputtering, "Wha..well, it's not that common for weapons to malfunction, they're kept in 'extremely' good shape before they're even sent into battle and anyone certified to pilot one should know how to fix whatever possible problems arise in combat in a hurry."

Yang caught on to what her partner was doing and gave toothy smile, like something you'd expect a bear to give its next meal. "Let me guess, they have to get out of their mechs to fix most of their problems, right?"

Weiss: Well..

Yang: Which takes them out of all that armor and into the world alone.

Weiss: They're usually pretty well supported by infantry and other mechs!

Blake: 'Usually'. But if a situation's bad enough..

Weiss: N..nothing's perfect..

Yang: Which means that your complaints about the tank earlier, which has a 'crew' of people in case things go bad, feel just a 'little' weaker.

Weiss: Sh..shut up!

It was hard to tell what Ruby found more entertaining about Weiss being put on the defensive. Was it the way her shoulders seemed to hunch up like a turtle trying to hide in its shell? The usually well spoken girl being reduced to stammers and in some ways seeming more childish than Ruby herself? The little blush on her cheeks as some flaw she didn't want to acknowledge was brought to light? Or was it something more subtle that her mind might point out to her later? Whatever the case, Ruby was certainly enjoying it, even if it was distracting her a little from the on-screen action.]

It didn't take long for the car to be set on fire. Jackson almost wanted to groan as he moved back, hoping to stay out of the inevitable explosion while still allowing the car to cover at least part of him in the chaotic firefight. After the third rocket flew over his head and the car blew up, he had the very distinct idea he didn't need more cover, he needed more 'distance' from these guys. Continuing to back away while shooting the enemy, he didn't really pay attention to when he stopped moving. He just switched between targets as quickly as possible, trying to prevent the enemy from swarming the tank and its defenders as much as possible.

Somewhere around the eighth enemy in his sights, Jackson heard a fresh directive from the lieutenant. "They're moving in with det-packs! Don't let 'em get close to the tank!"

[Ruby: Det-packs?

Blake: Faster to say than explosives or detonation packs.

Ruby: No, I got that. What I'm wondering is why they don't call them bombers, that's certainly less awkward.

Weiss: I wouldn't be surprised if something else was called a bomber. That military clearly prefers coordinated attacks with plenty of support, even if the gameplay doesn't always show it that well.]

It was hard to tell who had explosives and who didn't, but it was probably a fair guess that anyone crazy enough to charge into the open and straight at the tank was a major threat. Hundreds, thousands of bullets flew through the air. The weak barriers the enemy used for cover did nothing against the hailstorm, at best it just made it a little most awkward to guess where various bodyparts were in the heat of battle, but there were certainly enough guns going off that sooner or later several bullets would hit their mark. But while the cover the Americans were using was far more solid, that didn't make them immortal. It just meant that the enemy had to get downright lucky, especially since they preferred going in full auto as opposed to controlled bursts.

They just kept coming despite their casualties, though. It was downright unnerving how they just didn't seem to care about how many casualties they took. To make matters worse, Command sent a radio message. "Bravo Six, be advised. More hostiles have assembled to the west of your position, over."

[Weiss was actually starting to get unnerved by what was going on. "They..just keep coming. 'Why'?! The sheer number of casualties they've been taking since this mission began should have convinced them this area isn't worth fighting for right now!"

Blake: It feels less like they 'care' about beating their enemies and more about stubbornly dragging things out, hoping to cause as much damage as possible before they're taken down.

Brain quickly doing comparisons, Weiss was more than a little disturbed that a number of skirmishes between the Atlas military and White Fang looked disturbingly like this on paper. Sure, they were 'just' small scale skirmishes, typically when a commander predicted where they'd strike next and move to intercept them, but it was 'far' too easy to imagine those animals going through a battle like 'this'..and imagining those masks going through 'any' of the brutal fighting in this mission was downright scary, even if they were getting cut down with ease. How do you 'deal' with people who are so set in their goals that they 'gladly' charge to their deaths for any kind of gain regardless of cost?!]

Vasquez didn't take that well, though at least he sounded more angry than scared. "Two Charlie, Bravo Six! Requesting air support for fire mission, over!"

"Uh, negative Bravo Six. There's an enemy ZPU to the south of your position. Until you take it out, we can 'not' risk sending any more choppers, over."

[Ruby: I know this is probably annoying at this point, but what's a ZPU?

Blake:..honestly no idea.

Weiss: Same.

Yang: Guess we'll find out soon enough.]

* * *

Ending Notes: Yep..we 'still' aren't done with this mission. I know it's an abrupt point to stop things, but frankly I feel bad just sitting on this much progress until I get another urge to delve into this story.

Seems my Youtube page has a grand total of 1028 videos at this point..kind of amazed I don't have a single mention on TV Tropes with that much material on the internet. If anything, I'm more likely to get recognition on that site for fanfic writing than any video work I could do..I don't know if I should laugh or be annoyed by how the internet works.

As a side note, was thinking of doing another series of stories while doing the LP stories, not sure if it'd be connected with the LP stories or not. And the first thing that came to mind was Yang being thrown into the world of Pokémon Gold (either the second generation version or HeartGold, either way). Two things slowing me down on that, though. First, I've never been able to emulate 'any' of the Pokémon games with clocks and calendars, so the first generation is the only one fresh in my memory. I know, kind of sad when we're coming close to the seventh. Second, I was thinking of having Raven in the role of Red, giving Yang extra motivation instead of the generic "I wanna be the very best" thing. But at the moment, Raven's character is pretty barebones. We know she abandoned Yang as a kid, did a random on the train, possibly trained the man who cut off Yang's arm, and left Qrow a message that Yang shouldn't expect her to come to the rescue ever again. That is rather contradictory at points, but suggests a survival of the fittest mentality. Considering how off I was about Adam, though, I'd rather know more about the character before putting pen to paper about her. Still, that shouldn't stop me from at least getting started. Just need to gather some notes, collect my thoughts, make it all something coherent. We'll see how that goes.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll try to get the next chapter of this story out as quickly as I can.


	17. Chapter 17

Opening notes: Dear god, it is 'amazingly' exhausting to just transcribe footage that you've recorded to something interesting to read, and I've got so many other things I want to get done on a given day that it's easy to procrastinate on this story. Don't get me wrong, it's fun, but rather time consuming, and my time is consumed by plenty of other things, from my let's plays I post on my YouTube channel to the things that actually get me an income.

I 'want' the team to grow in a slightly different way to the series based on the ideas they get from games, but we're still on the fourth mission of the first game, and still so early in the first volume's events that Jaune hasn't even gone through his bullying problem yet. Frustrating, especially considering how much I enjoy these characters.

The idea so far? While each team member 'plays' games that fit their style (Ruby is speed oriented, momentum, so a fast paced first person shooter like Call of Duty is the order of the day), the games they'd be physically thrown 'into' would be more along the lines of their 'role' on the team (Ruby is the leader, supposed to make a lot of tactical decisions on the fly, and a good hearted person who would jump at any chance to help others, so strategy oriented role player games along the lines of Fire Emblem and Suikoden would be perfect to throw her into).

Since I'm going to start that group of fics earlier than I originally intended, I have no idea if I should connect the LP series and throwing them into those worlds anymore. Things could happen in the LP fics that could force me to rewrite sections of the world-traveler fics. I might even make the LP universe so there'd be some divergences (example: Blake not leaving Yang after encounter with Adam) that there's no way I can decide at this stage. There's also an issue that I want to keep them in some form of contact with eachother despite the fact that they'll be in completely different worlds, and maybe even have them face .

I'm also unsure about putting the ones where they're thrown into different worlds as crossovers. Doing something like Weiss into Pokémon or Shin Megami Tensei, people would have to outright search for a crossover fic, having a firm idea of what they're looking for. Whereas putting them just in RWBY fanfiction, well, the section is getting pretty crowded on , and fans of whatever series I threw the girls in might feel annoyed that they have to dig that deeply for what might be a rather rare crossover. It's not really a problem with , but it feels worth mentioning before I start. Any thoughts on the matter?

* * *

Chapter 17

Taking Command's hesitation to send help in stride, Vasquez yelled, "Jackson! Find that ZPU and take it out so we can get some air support! Lopez! Gaines! Cover him!"

Turning to the right and maneuvering around the tank, Jackson fired at an ambitious enemy trying to flank the squad from behind a burning barrel. Every other enemy in that direction seemed more concerned with holding their position and exchanging fire with the marines than trying to attack the tank, with some using an abandoned bus and several shipping crates for cover.

[Weiss: Why would there be shipping crates 'here'? They're nowhere 'near' a port!

Yang: Well you've got to take the crates 'somewhere' after they're off the boats. Still, got to admit that's kind of a random place to put them all.]

If nothing else, the casualties they'd taken by this point had convinced the enemy that charging for the tank itself was just asking to get shot. But in deciding to dig themselves in 'around' the tank, they had effectively lost the initiative. Still, with only three Americans pushing against an unknown number of troops, they didn't really 'need' to keep pushing, just get lucky. And one of them nearly did when he fired a rocket from on top of a building.

[Ruby: Right, shooting anti-armor weapons at just three soldiers. Doesn't look like these guys care about wasting ammo.

Blake: Considering the way they just throw numbers at problems and kill 'civilians', I don't think they really care how much of 'anything' they have left so long as they hurt their enemies.

Ruby: Good point.]

The rocket man was cut down before he could even think of reloading, only for a second rocket to whizz by Jackson's head from behind the ruined bus. Cutting down the second, he couldn't help wondering why the enemy wasn't using those same rockets on the tank. Sure, he wasn't expecting high level training from these thugs, but this was getting 'ridiculous'.

As the three men started to push past the bus and into the shipping crates, a number of enemies proved they had a good amount of sense, waiting until the Americans got close before rushing out from their hiding spots among the crates, one or two of them throwing grenades as they did so. As Jackson became distracted dealing with them, one enemy quickly stood from behind a cement traffic barrier, doing his damndest to put Jackson down.

[Ruby: Oh crap!

Yang: Huh, I was 'wondering' why that Jersey barrier was just sitting there.

Ruby: A little 'warning' would be nice next time!]

Bullets slamming into him from less than two yards away, Jackson could do nothing but stumble, vision clouding in crimson. There was absolutely no way he could return fire with any accuracy. But then, he didn't 'need' to. Gaines managed to step between the enemy and Jackson, taking a hit or two to the shoulder as he eliminated the target, snarling a little in pain as he did so. Not even bothering to check if the other man was alright, Jackson aimed for the next enemy, bringing him down in seconds.

"Enemy contact, behind that dumpster!"

[Blake: Which one? The one that's burning, or the one that's burning?

Weiss: Apparently both.

Ruby: I can't keep track of them all!]

Jackson wouldn't be surprised if he and the other two managed to kill twenty of the bastards by the time the ZPU was in sight. Just behind a pretty firm looking barred gate was the anti-air gun, outdated as all hell. He wouldn't have been surprised if it was all the way from World War 2. Still, even if they couldn't do a thing to modern fighters and bombers, it was still a very significant threat to helicopters.

Going straight at the gate felt like a bad idea. It looked chained shut, and any attempt to get through would probably open them up to getting riddled with bullets. Sure, it was possible that all the gun's defenders were dead, but since the crew were still firing, he had to assume they still felt secure for a reason. So, he went around.

The building didn't seem to have a door anymore, just an empty frame, and he couldn't really tell what the building was for once he got a view inside. It could have been an office building or a bar, all he knew was there were chairs bolted to the tiled ground in front of some counters. Everything else that might have given the building personality was long gone, with just the occasional bloodstain, a small fridge and freezer next to an over near the back, and what looked like a gas tank. Hopefully it was empty..last thing they needed was to get blown up by a stray shot.

He didn't fire until he reached the door on the other side, a little curious why the three hadn't noticed everyone else was dead.

[Ruby: Maybe the noise from that gun made it hard to tell what's going on around them?

Weiss: That doesn't excuse the fact that they are 'literally' the last of their forces in this area! the 'only' ones who can speak their language! Just the fact that they can't hear any familiar words in the air should have tipped them off considering the cautious pace you took to reach them!

Yang: Well, I know I tend to tune things out a lot when I'm riding my motorcycle, keeping pretty focused and only paying attention to whatever seems to immediately matter, like traffic lights, cars or some idiot crossing the street at the wrong time. Maybe they're only focused on their ammo and whatever they're trying to shoot down?]

The poor trio on the gun never had a chance to react. Two were killing in the first three round burst, one of them slumping against the controls limply while the other fell with a hole in the side of his head. The third only had time to notice the gun stopped shooting for some reason before he was cut down as well.

Lopez took a quick look before yelling, "Jackson, plant the C4 on the gun, move!"

[Ruby: Really starting to notice that if something needs to be done, the player does it. Kind of makes me wonder why the rest of the squad came at all if they're going to shove absolutely every task, from clearing the enemy out to setting the explosives, onto a single guy.

Blake: They want to make the player feel like they're essential for success..and in doing so, making everyone 'else' feel like they just exist to mostly draw fire.]

It didn't take much to set the bomb, just place it on a convenient spot on the gun. He doubted he even 'needed' to use whatever allowed the binder to stick to surfaces considering how conveniently it was just laying there, waiting for someone to either blow up or replace the previous gunning team.

[Weiss: Huh, looks like some kind of..rubbery substance with something taped around its middle. I know Dust isn't a thing in this game, but I was kind of expecting something closer to the explosives the actual military uses.

Yang: I know I'm looking forward to how this stuff lights up.]

"Good job, let's get to a safe distance."

'Good job'? What's so tough about just leaning an explosive bag onto a slightly curved surface that you want to blow up? Pulling the detonator out, running out of the building and taking cover behind one of the flimsy wooden tables, Jackson already knew he was at a safe distance and didn't 'need' any cover, and if he 'did' this table wouldn't count for anything. Still, it always felt right to take 'some' kind of cover as you set something off and watched. It was almost part of the fun.

Hitting the button as he looked through the window, it wasn't quite a Hollywood quality blast. The bomb did its job, ruining the controls for the gun and the shockwave bending some of the metal, but there was no massive fireball. Just a burst of smoke and dust.

[Yang felt herself droop down a bit. Really? That was it? No flash, just a bunch of sand and soot flying around? Sure, the thing they wanted to destroy was twisted beyond repair and its interface no longer existed, but..

Yang's thoughts trailed off as she saw a strange look in Weiss's eye. The sort of look people get when they start imagining possibilities for something, the sort Ruby occasionally got whenever she learned about a weapon that was 'particularly' interesting and considered trying to either design something that incorporated its strengths or add part of the overall decision into Crescent Rose.

Weiss: Wow, a 'precision' explosive. I'm used to seeing barely controlled blasts from very volatile materials, but this..even if it's fictional, I 'like' it.

Everyone just took a moment to stare at her, and Weiss started to feel a little uncomfortable with the attention. "What? Something like that could help with mining and construction, certainly more than measuring how much Dust you want to use and 'hoping' it doesn't do more or less than you calculated."]

As the smoke started to engulf Jackson, the lieutenant's voice came through on the radio. "Jackson, I've got air support on the way but they need our 'exact' location. Plant the IR beacon and get their attention. Out."

[Ruby: Let me guess, we just 'happen' to be carrying that with us too for some reason.]

Jackson didn't know if he should groan or scream at the fact that he still had 'more' to do before they got any support. If the flyboys knew their location well enough to be cautious of the gun he just destroyed, why didn't they know enough to hit the building that was spraying down gunfire? Especially since those guns had 'intensified' their fire in the area that would be 'perfect' to set the beacon down at.

Still, complaining wasn't going to change his job. Rushing to one of the shipping crates for cover, taking a few hits to his armor on the way there, he waited and watched the enemy's gunfire as it hit the ground. It was less about waiting for the gunfire to stop or for the enemy to reload, and more just waiting for their fire to spread out, become less controlled as the enemy stopped trying to kill and just tried to pin down.

The instant he felt ready, he sprinted to a burning dumpster for cover, watching as the fire of one enemy gun tried to swerve to catch him to no avail. Less than ten yards from where he wanted to set the beacon, he waited another two seconds before rushing out, placing the beacon, and rushing back to the dumpster just before the enemy guns could zero in on him.

[Blake: Huh, kind of impressed you managed to get through that while barely getting hit at all.

Ruby: I'm just hoping this is the 'final' thing we need to do for a bit. I 'really' need a break.]

A pilot's voice came through on the radio, sounding extremely relaxed. "Okay, positive ID on your sparkle. We're comin' in hot from the northeast. Standby."

[Ruby: Not really a lot else we can do when it's raining bullets.]

For a moment, Jackson considered trying to shoot some of the enemy in the building just to ease the pressure on the squad..then he heard the twin multibarrel miniguns of his support, and his brain promptly went into spectator mode despite his gun still aiming at the building.

It was fast yet beautiful, within seconds a few rockets were launched into the building even as the miniguns cut down numerous enemies at the windows, and created a smoking hole in the side. If there were any enemies left in the building, they weren't all that keen on showing themselves anymore as the Cobra made its pass. A second Cobra helicopter kept watch on the building's front while the first moved back to its position, spitting out some gunfire and the occasional rocket whenever it so much as saw a shadow, regardless of if it was human shaped or not. The first Cobra reunited with its brother and sent off one last rocket on the one part of the building that didn't have a hole in it. And then, just for the sake of spending all their ammo, the two helicopters took turns firing what was left of their rocket payload into the building, completely annihilating the roof and giving it even larger windows, not to mention extending part of the second floor balcony.

The relaxed pilot asked jokingly, "Uh, two, you see anyone left down there?"

[All of team RWBY just stared, two of them slack-jawed and the other two positively giddy.

Weiss was the first one to break the silence, and you could practically 'see' the stars in her eyes. "That. Was. Amazing! When they were told to come, they came 'instantly and there was 'nothing' the other side could do, they didn't even have time to 'react'!"

Yang looked about ready to burst into flames of joy. "There's nothing left to react 'with'! Holy shit, they just..how is that building still 'standing'?! Totally awesome!"

Ruby felt the beginnings of a snarl in her throat. "Yeah. Awesome. So awesome that I'm a little annoyed they waited until we put that IR thing on the ground before coming in when the enemy was 'that' obviously in the building and pouring gunfire at us."

After taking a few moments to soak in what she saw, the closest comparison being a classic cavalry charge from knights with lances, Blake still wasn't sure what to think about it. That was 'brutal', coming so fast that she doubted anyone in 'Beacon' could have reacted before being completely crushed by the sheer instantaneous weight of gunfire, and she couldn't think of anything that could 'stand' that much of a beating. Last time she checked, the world the game was set in didn't have any Grimm, so why would the people in it decide to come up with a tactic so 'devastating' that even a Goliath would be reeling if not killed in seconds? Just how far could people take refining how to kill other 'people'?!]

"Negative, we got 'em."

"Roger that. All targets destroyed and we're outta here. Good luck boys. Out."

And with that, the two helicopters started flying off, and Vasquez's voice went on the radio. "Command. LZ is secure. Bring in the engineers and let's get this tank moving."

Already moving to reunite with the rest of the squad, Jackson barely paid attention to Command's reply. "Roger that. They're on the way. Good work, out."

[Ruby: Okay, I've been meaning to ask about the whole saying 'out' thing on the radio..

Weiss: It's a procedure word, essentially meaning this is the end of my part of the conversation and I don't expect any answer from you.

Ruby: Thanks.]

At that point, Griggs said on the radio, "Squad, regroup at the tank. Let's go!"

It took around twenty seconds for everyone who was left to gather around the tank. That's when the lieutenant took out a piece of chalk from one of his pockets and started drawing on the side of the tank.

[Yang: Kind of a weird time for some artwork.]

As he finished his rushed drawing of their location and marked where he wanted everyone, Vasquez's voice went into briefing mode. "Listen up. we don't have much time to get this tank out of here. We'll take up defensive positions around the bog here, here, and here, and buy the engineers some time to get the tank moving. Oorah?"

Once he was sure everyone had gotten what he said, Vasquez nodded, and moved towards one of the positions he'd put on the map.

* * *

As the screen faded to black, Ruby hit pause, put the controller down, and just 'stretched' her arms. And it was 'really' satisfying, considering the way she hadn't moved much in a while, keeping the same muscles tense while keeping her mind even more alert and quickly reacting than uncle Qrow's training 'ever' asked of her brain. "Wow. This is getting 'good'. Just how long have we been in here, anyway?"

Blake checked her scroll and whistled a little. "Just over an hour. I've got to admit, it's become 'pretty' engrossing to the point I lost track of time. Good thing we don't have school tomorrow, because what we've seen so far makes it strangely difficult to leave."

It was nice to know the most cautious about this game's story was starting to enjoy herself. As Yang went to grab some more drinks from the rather limited fridge in the lounge, Ruby had a random thought. "Hey, since I'm going to try getting my bearings again before we get back into the game and we're doing this thing as a team bonding exercise, let's get to know eachother a bit better!"

Weiss snorted a little in derision, even if there was a smile on her face. Hopefully this whole hanging out thing would let Ruby figure out what Weiss really meant considering how many mixed messages she tended to send. "Oh? And what did you think would do that? Playing twenty questions or something?"

"Not quite. I think one member, going in order of our team name, should come up with 'one' question everyone, including the asker, has to answer. And since one of the bits we saw in the game was training, the first question is: how did you train before being accepted into Beacon?"

It wasn't that difficult a question, and it's not like she was expecting to hear anything she didn't already know about her sister, but still, half of her team felt like blank slates to her. Given the somewhat hesitant expressions on both Weiss and Blake, it probably also set off some mental landmines..yeesh, why did they both have to have such similar minefields? "Since I asked the question, I may as well answer it first. I got some very personal tutoring from my uncle Qrow, who spent a 'lot' of time getting me good enough to use Crescent Rose by instinct instead of awkward and random swings, patience when I'm tracking and getting ready to shoot a target from a distance, and also taught me that learning how to multitask is better than just plain focusing on single things."

Now 'that' got Weiss's attention. "Oh? How so?"

"Well, if you're focused on something 'really' hard, you might get tunnel vision, or just the mental equivalent of it. You don't notice things you probably should, only thinking about the goal. But if you're good at multitasking, you can keep your mind on something important while doing something else you think is important. Like, say, I'm tracking down a group of beowolves. I've also got to find a good place to camp, do the various little things to keep my baby in good shape, and various other things."

Weiss raised a hand and shook it a little, the general handsign of saying something was a little shaky but neither bad nor good. "I get the tracking something as important, but camping site and standard maintenance? Isn't it better to put minor things out of your mind so you aren't distracted?"

Ruby felt herself smiling since for once 'she' could go into lecture mode on 'Weiss'. "Oh? And what happens when you focus 'so' much on something as time consuming as trying to follow a group of creatures that doesn't need to sleep or eat, and moves in at times 'very' random directions due to the mood of the pack, whatever emotions they can sense in the area, and any number of other factors? Sooner or later you 'are' going to find them, they can't 'completely' hide their trail even if they had the wits to try, but you can't know how long that'll take, and it's better to go against them and whatever other Grimm you find as fresh as possible."

And that managed to make Weiss's jaw drop, and make Blake start clapping. "Kind of an iffy example, but nice defense of it. So..are we doing the answering in team order, or in whatever order we feel comfortable with?"

Yeah, this team building thing was 'really' starting to come along..

* * *

Closing notes: Yeah, part of me was tempted to put the full scene of them talking about their training and such, partly as an apology for this chapter taking so long, but then I looked at how long this chapter was and figured I've got enough to post. Hope you enjoy. I wonder if I'll start the first of the in-another-world fics, Hooded Emblem, or manage to get the next chapter of 'this' fic posted first..and if I'll put that fic under Fire Emblem/RWBY or just RWBY on .


	18. Chapter 18

Author's note: It seems everyone wants me to focus on this story, not letting any other stories get in the way, at least for now. Understandable, considering my erratic update schedule..if you can 'call' it a schedule. Anyway, here's an extra long chapter, hope you enjoy. What can I say, I felt we kind of needed the girls to spend some time just talking and getting to know eachother.

A number of people said they liked the reactions the team had to the various bits of equipment and tactics from Earth. Got to say, what little we've seen of Remnant's weapons technology seems to be somewhere around World War 1/World War 2 level. Sure, Bullheads and the Atlesian dropships seem to have gatling weapons but no rocket payload. And it's not that rockets don't exist, the Paladin mechs and Junior fired rockets. Then there's the fact that Paladins are the pinnacle of their armored vehicles, at least up to Volume 3.

There's also the fact that Remnant probably has no concept of the shock and awe doctrine, also known as rapid dominance. Basically hit the enemy with rapid displays of overwhelming force in order to make them panic, break their will to fight by scaring the shit out of them with an obscene amount of firepower in a hurry. I somehow doubt armies in Remnant think along those lines, since the Grimm don't seem to 'feel' fear, but certainly are drawn to human's fear. Why purposely try to inflict that when it's just going to draw in a force that 'both' sides will have to fight? And seeing a force 'refuse' to break after that kind of brutal strike would probably backfire 'horribly' for the troops who saw how little effect it had. "Oh god, that didn't stop them. If that didn't stop them, what the hell am 'I' going to do against them?!"

The military doctrine and weapons development on Remnant evolved to fight against the Grimm, not other people. Their effectiveness at killing fellow humans is just a result of deadly weapons being deadly, and the tactics seem more inclined to hope that some complete badasses can deal with the worst threats. Standard military, robotic or otherwise, do their best to keep the low to mid tier Grimm busy while the less numerous but far more individually effective hunters/huntresses deal with the bigger threats. Sure, things like beowolves are practically ignorable considering how tough even someone still in training to be a huntress can be, but even a lot of something ignorable can become a problem, especially if they're trying to protect civilians in the area. And to be fair, it's probably very difficult to come up with very detailed strategies in a world where a single hunter would plausibly be able to do more damage than a few hundred grunts.

Granted, we haven't heard too many details about the wars in Remnant's past, even if the civil war that sparked the whole naming people by colors thing has been mentioned in passing a few times. Still, with what we currently know, I'd say Earth's military could give Remnant some 'very' harsh blows just with conventional weaponry if the two worlds ever clashed, and the military leaders on Remnant would probably have a hard time adjusting. And on the flip side, real world militaries would have to adjust to deal with the Grimm and would be hard pressed to contend with, say, that massive dragon/wyvern thing that spawned lower quality Grimm with ease. Hell, that thing was giving me flashbacks of Sin from Final Fantasy 10 and the kaiju from Cloverfield.

Well, this chapter is going to just be the girls talking in their break before starting the next gameplay session. I think I'll mostly skip Yang telling the others she trained with her dad and whatever else Ruby had to say about training with Qrow. From what I've been seeing, Blake and Weiss have the most to gain from Modern Warfare, since it is pretty thought provoking. While Yang and Ruby will also take some things from it, I don't think it'll have as much of an impact as the other two.

* * *

Chapter 18

There was something very..strange when Weiss was hearing the sisters talk about how they trained. It wasn't just pride in their own abilities, it was pride in their teachers, in the family members who decided to impart their knowledge to the next generation. She couldn't think of 'anyone' she felt a similar kind of pride for and who'd feel proud of such a moment.

"..all in all, it was a pretty awesome day. Sure, I still can't 'beat' him, but being able to catch a full on hunter off guard with an uppercut to the 'jaw'? I don't think there's 'any' better confidence booster than that. That should do it for my turn..who's next?"

As..unbelievably satisfying as it would be to punch 'him' across the face, it wouldn't be a pleasant thing for her to do. The last time she took a stand and managed to gain 'some' control of her life she nearly lost an 'eye'!

Apparently Blake worked up the courage to talk next wile Weiss was trying to figure out just what part of Ruby's and Yang's stories made her feel, for lack of a better word, jealous. "Well, I..learned a lot of survival skills from a combination of stumbling through various experiences, reading various instruction manuals, and the occasional moment where various adults took the time to give me a few pointers. It's actually kind of embarrassing the number of mistakes and stupid decisions I made along the way, but.."

Something about that seemed to bother Ruby. "Okay, you used 'various' a lot there. No family members, or favorite teachers?"

That got Blake to outright cringe, and Ruby wasn't done yet. "Was your family too busy, or just not good at some of the things you might want to learn outside of combat school? "

You could see on her face that Blake felt she'd already said too much. It took her a few seconds to say anything more, and it looked like it was 'painful' to say as much as she did. "Well..the thing is..I kind of didn't 'go' to any combat school, or know who my parents were, much less any other members of my family."

Now that made Weiss's brain freeze up a bit. "Wait, you managed to get good enough to get into Beacon without 'any' formal training whatsoever? How?!"

Yang was equally flabbergasted by a different point. "You don't know 'any' family? No uncles, no siblings or cousins, you were just..'alone' on the 'street'?!"

Blake seemed to shrink into herself a little, as if she was unsure which question was more uncomfortable for her. Then Ruby stepped in. "Hey, you don't have to tell us if you don't want to. This whole thing tonight is supposed to be about having fun as a team, right?"

Blake took a moment to gather herself before sending Ruby a grateful smile. "Sorry..tonight's supposed to be about team bonding, and part of that involves getting to know eachother better. I'm just not..used to talking about myself."

Slowly, she gathered a breath and stared at Weiss, "There wasn't enough money for formal training. I grew up outside of the kingdoms, and while there were certainly plenty of odd jobs to do, few ethical people would let a kid work full time, and the not-so-ethical ones would find any excuse to cut my pay. So no, I wouldn't have been able to pay for school on top of food, clothing, and some of the other bare essentials. Still, I managed to find some 'very' sturdy, reliable parts to make Gambol Shroud, and thankfully I managed to pass both a written and practical exam for Beacon. So don't worry, I'm not a charity case."

And with that, Weiss's brain immediately went to defensive mode. "I didn't say you don't deserve to be here! You're one of the best students in our year, sharp in the classroom and 'very' good whenever we have to fight against Grimm. I just expected someone with your level of skill to.."

There was something about the look in Blake's eye, a sort of barely restrained, vindicated smugness combined with what was either a hint of guilty pleasure or something..darker. Weiss couldn't really tell, all she really knew was that whatever her eyes held didn't seem to touch the rest of Blake's withdrawn, almost..vulnerable body language, and the odd disconnect forced her to hold in a shiver. While she didn't know 'why' she felt that nervous, she certainly knew she was probably just a few words away from putting her foot in her mouth. "..actually, nevermind. Doesn't matter what I thought."

Chuckling a little at that, Blake returned, "Oh it does, at least a little."

Smile becoming a little more relaxed, she drew out the word but for about two seconds. "But I think I'll let you off the hook for now. Now, as for your question, Yang.."

Weiss didn't 'quite' breath out a sigh of relief when the attention shifted from her, giving her some more time to gather her own thoughts. "..well, any number of things could have happened to prevent me from ever meeting my family. Maybe they died before I was old enough to remember. Maybe they just didn't have the means to take care of a kid and..got rid of me. It's depressingly common outside of the kingdoms, though I don't know what the 'exact' statistics are. I doubt 'anyone' knows the exact numbers. All I know is I linked up with..a supply caravan that traveled all over the place, and..some of them felt 'like' family to me. I had to leave them to get into Beacon, and even if I 'wanted' to get in touch with them, they don't stay in one place long enough for them to have a mailing address and don't have scrolls to contact. And no, I don't want any help to get in contact with any of them, and any further detail from my pre-Beacon days, well, I'm going to have to feel a 'lot' more comfortable with 'all' of you."

Yang nodded, grabbing her drink and gulping it down before saying, "Take your time, there's no hurry to tell us. I just hope we're doing a good job making you feel welcome and part of the team."

At that, Blake gave a rather easy smile."It's too early to judge just yet, but..so far, so good. I just have to convince myself this good dream won't turn sour if I get too optimistic. Harder than it sounds. Now, I believe it's Weiss's turn.."

Weiss had a few more questions on her mind, decent ones, even if they were more meant to stall for more time. Still, given the way everyone's attention was shifting towards her, she doubted she'd be able to ask something as minimal as how Blake got her last name if she didn't have parents. "Well, there's not really much for me to say. I received the best personal tutors money could buy, learning absolutely every lesson they gave me to 'excruciating' detail. It was pretty much a guarantee that I'd be Beacon material."

Ruby clearly wasn't satisfied with such a short answer. "Um, did any of them leave an impression on you?"

"Not really, I was just another job to them. A very well paid job that they were expected to treat rather seriously, but a job none-the-less. If anything, I think my father tried paying them extra so they'd go out of their way to avoid forming any meaningful connections with me." It wasn't until she finished that sentence that she realized she said too much. Oh she was in absolutely no mood to talk about her relationship with her father, but there was no way someone wouldn't ask with 'that' kind of hint in the air.

And Blake, of course, couldn't let something like that slide. "What gave you that impression?"

Sighing, she gave herself a mental slap for the opening she left. "It's..just the way he is. Suffice to say, while he paid for my training and Mynaster's construction, he wanted to forge me into the greatest possible leader for the company, able to handle myself even in the event that our hired and manufactured security proved unable to match the danger. He didn't even 'consider' I'd go all the way to Beacon and apply to be a huntress, an environment he can't control in any way, shape, or form. Still, even if I..surprised him and left him no choice in the matter, I 'eventually' had to explain it in such a way that it seemed I just had the initiative to build on the family name even more."

Yang outright whistled a little, clapping slowly. "Wow, so you've got some rebel in you! I never would have guessed considering how 'boring' you act on a day to day basis."

On any other day, Weiss might have objected to the word 'dull', or thrown an insult of her own. But considering the atmosphere in the room right now, at best she could pull off a weak smile. "Well, I haven't seen anything worth rebelling against 'here'. The teachers are good, if at times eccentric, and while I had some..doubts about Ruby as leader, I think it's probably better to help her become a 'better' leader than spend the next four years trying to snatch the role for myself."

And with that, Ruby killed part of the atmosphere by practically 'tackling' her and giving her a hug. "Ohthankyouthankyou,doesthatmeanyou'llgivemesomeslackonceinawhile?"

Weiss had absolutely 'no' idea what Ruby said there, all she knew was she felt a shoulder digging into her gut and arms constricting around her waist, making it a little harder to breath. So she did the first thing that came to mind, use one hand to try pushing Ruby off and the other sending admittedly very feeble slaps to her back. "Get off me you dolt!"

It took several seconds for either of the other two to help her get Ruby off. Yang snickered for a bit and Blake had a sort of chesire grin on her face until she decided to say to Ruby, "Well, I'd say our break has lasted long enough. Are you up for seeing what comes next in the story, Ruby?"

That got Ruby's attention. "Oh, right. Yang, more drinks! Time for more awesomeness!"

* * *

Ending note: I have a slight confession to make. I managed to finish this chapter around the point that RWBY Chibi 4 came out, but I wanted to post a chapter with some gameplay, not just a talking chapter, so it took longer. Sorry about that. Felt this chapter was a nice break in the action and kind of needed, sort of like the skits in MST3k between their sessions watching a movie. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and the next one.


	19. Chapter 19

Opening notes: Right, let's get into Hunted. This is going to be a fun one, especially with the AC-130 and the first encounter with dogs in the game. Not sure how much I'll be able to fit into this chapter, but we should have plenty of good moments.

* * *

Chapter 19

The screen flashed the USMC insignia, letting it spin for a bit at the front of the screen before sending it to the upper left corner, zooming out on the map. Then the insignia came back to the center of the screen and changed to the SAS one.

Yang smiled at that. "Okay, we're going from the group with the most 'awesome' equipment to the one with the best team. Who's clock do we have to clean now?"

Everyone ignored the bad pun as the camera focused in on the helicopter, zooming in on it from above. It wasn't nearly as detailed as it would have been in an actual mission, but it was still an interesting view of the vehicle. Weiss couldn't help mumbling, "Large, fast moving rotor at the top, a tail section with its own smaller rotor, probably to help it steer..I'm not sure if it's as 'fast' as Bullhead, but it's certainly a pretty stable design. I'm not sure why this one is more..round than the ones that came to the rescue at the end of the previous mission, though."

Blake shrugged at that. "Maybe they wanted it to be more comfortable for the people inside since it's clearly just a transport while the other aircraft was a pure gunship. Or maybe they aren't as quick to toss aside old designs for completely new equipment as we are. It's not like they've got any Grimm to worry about after all."

[Gaz: We've got Nikolai! We're taking him to the safe house in Hamburg! ETA Oh-seven hundred hours! Out!]

The helicopter's outer detail suddenly disappeared, replaced with a grid in its shape that showed the people inside as red figures, four passengers and the pilot. As the camera panned towards the door and zoomed to Soap, Ruby just 'had' to ask, "Wait, if we're still on our way out, why are we going to Soap's perspective now?"

There wasn't really a lot Soap could say about his view of Western Russia. Sure, the mountains in the distance and the way light reflected off the clouds was nice, but he'd seen plenty of poor country sides at night before so he didn't have the benefit of wonderment. If anything, he was starting to doze off a little when he saw something spark on the ground. A spark that started moving, with a small smoke trail behind it.

An all too quiet alarm started ringing from the cockpit with an electronic voice saying 'missile lock', distracting Price from his latest cigar. "What the bloody hell is that?!"

[Blake was tempted to say something along the lines of "a late missile warning", but held herself back since she wasn't sure the others even 'heard' the electronic voice in the background.]

The captain then glanced in the same direction as Soap and answered his own question with a yell. "Incoming missile! Hang on!"

And that was when the chopper got hit.

[Ruby: Okay, 'that' explains why we're back with these guys when they're still on their way out!

Yang: Kind of a wimpy flier, really. A Nevermore would have probably been able to take two or three hits like that before crashing.

Weiss: Well that's a little unfair, we didn't even 'see' just how bad a hit that was.]

All Soap could do was brace himself on his seat, struggle to keep his eyes open as the helicopter spun out of control and hope he could somehow keep conscious when they landed..and not get killed.

"Mayday, mayday! This is Hammer 6-4, we're going down! I repeat, we are going down two miles south of waypoint 5!"

[Blake: Even assuming they have anyone available in case of a disaster like this, they'd probably need more specific coordinates than that to work with. And, of course, whatever help is coming probably won't arrive before the guys who shot them down check the crash site.

Weiss: Considering the spinning, out of control crash and their lack of aura? They'll be lucky to even be able to 'walk' after this, much less fight.]

Of course, the only thing he managed to do was avoid getting killed. He didn't know if he lost consciousness 'before' letting go of his seat, or if he let go 'because' he was going unconscious. All he knew was that when he woke up, he was several yards away from the crash, had a bitch of a headache, and his weapons were no longer on him.

Still, it could have been worse. At least he wasn't the only one still alive. Price and Gaz had somehow managed to get through that landing without blacking out, and Price came over to give Soap a once-over. "You're still in one piece. Get up."

Both Price and Soap turned to look at the burning helicopter as an explosion went off. Probably the fuel tank or something. Lucky that took a while to cook off instead of exploding while they were in mid-air. That wouldn't have been pleasant.

[Ruby: Oh boy, that thing looks more mangled by the crash than getting shot. And I think I see why it went so out of control..the rear rotor was hit.

Weiss: Do you think the hit was 'meant' to strike such a small, vulnerable part, or was it just bad luck?

Ruby: Well, either way it looks like we're going on foot for a while.]

If the fact that they narrowly avoided dying bothered Price in any way, he didn't let it show, tearing his eyes away from the crash to give Soap a stern look. "Come on, we need to get moving before the search parties get here."

And with that, Price ran to the others, letting Soap get on his feet on his own. Quickly grabbing a G36C and an MP5, he checked to be sure they were still in working condition. It didn't really take much, just a quick scan to see any external signs of damage and shaking them a bit to be sure nothing had gotten loose.

[Weiss: Why did you leave the pistol behind?

Ruby: Based on the sort of stuff we've seen in the game so far, automatic weapons with decent range seem to be the best things to have. Not that a pistol can't be awesome, and the tutorial certainly showed how it can be great, just that it's..not a very good choice right now.]

While he was checking his equipment, Gaz was checking the others to see how they were, and only Nikolai managed to show any signs of life. As Gaz started shaking his head, Price simply said, "Casualty report."

Starting to stand up, Gaz returned, "Paulsen and both pilots are dead, sir."

[Blake: Wait, I counted 'five' people in the aircraft before the mission started. Where did the other four come from?

Ruby: Well, two pilots..and maybe that whole weird electric view from above couldn't show the entire cockpit. The other guy? Yeah, no clue.]

Price let himself show a bit of dismay, understandable since they'd been relaxing inside the helicopter and thought they were done for the day less than five minutes ago. "Bugger."

Price let them all have a moment of silence to let everyone digest just how close they came to dying and gain their bearings..or maybe he was giving a private farewell to the three bodies that seemed to glow in the burning helicopter's light. "..all right, the extraction point's not far from here. Let's move out."

[Blake: How can they already have an extraction point if they've only just been shot down?

Weiss: Maybe Baseplate told Price while we were blacked out or something?]

And with that, the five men started running down the hill towards the farmland. There were no enemies in sight, but then, the SAM that shot them down hadn't been in sight either. He didn't know about anyone else, but Soap certainly felt more nervous than usual, probably because he was way too used to being on the attack, not on the run.

Still, at least the radios still worked so command could talk to them. At least things weren't 'completely' fucked. "Bravo Six, this is Baseplate. AC-130 gunship support is on the way, but it will take some time before they will be in a position to assist, over."

[Weiss: Wait, they didn't call the aircraft that blasted that building gunships. If 'that' wasn't what they consider a dedicated gunship, what 'is'?

Yang: Oh I am 'really' looking forward to finding out.]

Price clearly wanted to keep the conversation short. "Copy, Bravo Six out."

Gaz was downright wistful as he said, "An AC-130, eh? Haven't worked with one of those in a while."

Nobody took Gaz's opening for some casual work-related conversation. There was a tense silence for the next few yards as they continued along a very poor road. Judging from the indents in the ground and the snaking gray group of rocks surrounded by grass and various other planets, it was probably a road for 'very' old fashioned horse drawn carts or something to that effect.

Possibly noticing how completely out of his element Soap was right now, Price said, "Keep a low profile. Let's stay out of trouble."

[Yang: What trouble? We're in the middle of nowhere, running towards what looks like some fires in the distance and with literally no other paths.

Blake: He's probably telling us to 'not' shoot at absolutely anything that moves. The further away from the crash we can get without getting into a fight, the easier it'll be to reach whatever point we're supposed to in order to escape.]

The man on point, an SAS by the name Hoyt, held up a hand to tell everyone to stop as he said, "Sir, vehicles coming from the north."

Thankfully they didn't have to stay on the road. There was a small overgrown path to the left that led down a hill and under a small, stone bridge. As Gaz ran under the bridge without any prompting at all, Price pointed the other three to the same spot. "Get under that bridge, move it!"

The squad wasn't even halfway to the bridge when the two trucks arrived. Thankfully, the drivers were focused on the road ahead of them, and the passengers weren't actively scanning the area just yet. Still, once those trucks finished stopping, those men would probably be a lot more alert. Even worse, there was a helicopter with its search light on, going straight for the crash site.

Oddly enough, the presence of enemies actually made Soap feel a little more relaxed. Better that they knew where the hostiles were and that they were still searching than keep worrying there might be a trap ahead.

[Ruby: Starting to think that break was actually kind of a waste. The game's a lot less draining when we aren't in the middle of an insane firefight.

Blake: I don't know, they're certainly doing a good job of making things feel tense, and there's no way the squad is going to stay unnoticed for long.]

Once he was satisfied that the coast was clear, Price gave the order. "Alright, let's move."

So they moved ahead, towards a rather poor farm. The wooden fences seemed sturdy enough if you didn't notice that plants were literally growing 'through' the old things, making Soap 'very' unwilling to try vaulting over it. The damn thing might collapse if anything heavier than a squirrel so much as leaned on it.

Guess that meant they were going through the garage. The wood was rather cheap, not meant to keep anything warm, just enough to keep rain or snow from touching whatever was inside. The door didn't even have a lock, and as Price slowly turned the handle, he whispered, "Hold up, we've got company."

[Yang: Yeesh, what kind of crappy garage is that? No tools, no truck or car..just some tires, stacked up cans and stacked up planks of wood.

Weiss:..why would you even 'bother' to make a little shack like that if you have nothing to put into it?

Blake: Um..sometimes you just..actually, yeah, I have no idea. I know they're trying to make the area look pretty poor, but you'd think a shack would have 'something' more than some make-shift tables with nothing on them. There's not even anything to give you a hint what the tables might be 'for'.]

It was actually pretty sad how empty the garage seemed, but Soap's eyes immediately caught the Russian soldiers on the other side of the window. Thankfully they didn't notice the British squad, they seemed more inclined to bother an old farmer who was curious why armed men were suddenly on his property.

Even if he didn't know the exact words, it was pretty clear at least one of the soldiers was just looking for an excuse to kill the old man. His words were aggressive, as if he didn't give a damn what answer the farmer gave him as he asked his question. And when the farmer was confused, the soldier started shoving him like a schoolyard bully would a kid he'd already decided to beat down for fun.

[Yang: Oh yeah, 'real' brave tough guy. Shoving around a random, defenseless old man when you've got two armed thugs right next to you. Being a full six inches taller than the guy who's so old he's hunched over and probably needs a cane to walk makes it even 'worse'!

Weiss: What do these soldiers even think this is going to 'do'? What could 'possibly' make them treat this guy with such 'blatant' contempt on sight?!

Blake: Maybe they think anyone who's poor is poor because there's something wrong with them instead of just being born unlucky. Maybe they think anyone who doesn't wear their uniform is not worth their time. Hell, maybe they're just on a power trip. Regardless, this will 'not' end well.

Ruby: Not if I have anything to say about it.]

Midway through the conversation, as Soap lined up a shot on the soldier who at this point was 'spitting' on the old man, Price whispered, "Alright, let's top these bastards before they kill the old man."

[Ruby: Gladly.]

The bully in uniform had his hand at his waist, as if he intended to pull out his pistol. Regardless of if it was just another threatening gesture or he was actually going to commit murder, he didn't get the chance. A bullet clear through his throat made his hand reflexively go up, as if he was trying to stop the bleeding even as the second shot went through his jaw, probably taking some teeth with it, and the third went right into his brain.

The other two soldiers were already pulling out their assault rifles before the sound of the three round burst even finished ringing out. One of them even managed to turn enough to see how many guns were sending a hailstorm of bullets in his direction. It was around that point that a fourth soldier, who'd somehow escaped notice and was hiding behind a steel barrel, prepped a grenade. Gaz didn't even let him 'start' throwing it, sending five shots into his chest. Assuming the bullets didn't kill him, the grenade that fell from his hands and went off right at his own feet finished that one off.

[Blake: Okay, I take back 'every' accusation that these guys are kill happy monsters. That was 'amazing', though there were probably soldiers who 'heard' that gunfire.

Weiss: Yeah..as 'great' as it was to save that old man, isn't the fact that there are soldiers dead right on his doorstep going to cause him problems later?

Ruby: I get the feeling the other soldiers are going to be too busy chasing us to care who owned what bit of ground their guys happened to die on.]

When no one else popped up to fight, Gaz whispered, "All clear."

And with that, Price gestured for the squad to follow him. "All right. Let's keep moving."

And with that, five British men jumped over what was probably the 'only' decently stable fence on the farm, leaving a very terrified old man wondering what he did to deserve this as he poked his head out of his house to gap at the four mangled bodies bleeding under the moonlight.

* * *

Ending note: Well, that seems like a good spot to end this chapter on. Hope you enjoyed it, and that I'll be able to get the next chapter out in a decent amount of time.


	20. Chapter 20

Opening notes: Well think I'll respond to a few interesting reviews I got before posting this one. Sorry it took so long, I've _really_ got to figure out how to manage my time better. It's just so easy to work on clips and forget for days if not weeks that I've even got a fanfic going, then I remember and want to slap myself across the face since I'm _enjoying_ this fic. Seriously, I was hoping to at least be on mission 8 by this month.

First, to Yaksher. I'm sorry that the single quotation marks for emphasis is annoying to you. It's kind of become instinct for me at this point. I do a good amount of writing for my YouTube channel, and unfortunately I've yet to find a video editing program that lets me put italics on specific words in a sentence rather than the whole thing. Still, I'm not working with something quite as limiting to text here. I'll do what I can to edit the other chapters and try to remember to occasionally hit the little curved 'I' in Word.

And to Rinter215, yes, Weiss honestly _did_ compare the Paladin mech to the Abrams tank. At this point in the series, the Paladin is the most advanced land vehicle on Remnant. And while team RWBY managed to beat one, they beat a prototype model that still had some kinks to work out that was being piloted by Roman, a guy who probably doesn't have a lot of experience piloting anything other than an escape vehicle. Give the girl some slack for thinking that a machine built by her family's company and meant to take on something about as tough as a Deathstalker could beat a "fictional" vehicle.

* * *

Chapter 20

As they moved from one farmland to the next, Soap couldn't help wondering what people were actually farming. There weren't any animals, and none of the plants he'd seen seemed to be growing anything you'd want to harvest. The most he saw was the occasional bundle of hay large enough to stop gunfire just laying out in the open. Of course, that might have something to do with the fact that he wasn't a farmer and only ever saw farms in movies or television.

The squad made it around twenty yards from their firefight when an enemy helicopter started flying for the previous farm they'd been in, turning on its spotlight. While Soap was a little distracted, wondering why that bird didn't have its light on in the first place, Price hissed out, "Spotlight, hit the deck!"

[Weiss: Yikes, it didn't take them long to send someone looking.

Blake: Well sure, it's not like there was anything to hide the noise of grenades and guns going off. Still, it's one thing to know where someone has been. It's another to know where they _are_.]

Everyone threw themselves to the ground, going flat on their bellies and hoping the helicopter wouldn't look closely enough at the ground to see them in the sea of grass. The pilot must have seen 'something' that caught his attention since he slowed down and the spotlight started sweeping all over the place, scanning the area for anything worthy of notice.

Price must have seen someone in the squad get antsy as the spotlight was swinging around. "Stay down."

Whoever he was talking to apparently didn't get the message because Price's voice shifted as if he was talking to a disobedient dog. "Stay down!"

It was a tense few seconds where all they could do was stare at the aircraft, hoping it wouldn't see them and wondering just how long it was going to stay over them, made worse by the fact that they couldn't move at all for fear the movement would draw the enemy's attention.

[Yang: And this is why I don't like sneaking around and waiting. Why wait for the other shoe to drop when you can kick 'em in the shins?

Ruby:..because the other shoe is probably going to hurt? A lot?

Blake: You do remember what those other two helicopters did, right? They took out that building in _seconds_!

Yang: This one doesn't have _nearly_ as many guns.

Blake: And it doesn't have to do _nearly_ as much damage to kill five guys out in the open!

It felt less like a debate to Weiss and more like two very opposed viewpoints clashing. She could almost see a neon sign over their heads saying Caution V Boldness. It probably said something that she didn't feel pulled by either end of the spectrum, but she didn't know what that something was. But what shocked Weiss was Ruby, little miss sling-shot-at-a-nevermore, sided with Blake.

Ruby: We definitely have enough problems as it is without 'trying' to get every one of those guys charging at us.]

Eventually the spotlight moved on and the helicopter continued towards the farm they'd just left, and Price somehow managed to keep any relief from entering his voice. "The heli's moving away. Let's go."

And with that, the squad continued moving towards another farm building. Unfortunately any hope of avoiding trouble died just as Soap reached a tractor. A Russian voice from behind them, loud and frantic. As everyone spun around, Gaz quickly stated, "Contact, six o'clock."

[Yang: And look at that, they noticed you anyway _right_ after the whole tense waiting for the aircraft to move thing.

Blake: To be fair, the loud aircraft above kind of distracted us from the silent patrols on the ground.

Ruby: Oh this is going to get rough in a hurry.]

Soap didn't even bother waiting for Price to tell them to return fire, already crouching behind some hay and cutting the enemy down as they tried vaulting over a fence to chase them. "Gaz we'll hold them off! Get that basement door open now!"

Whatever else was said was drowned out in the clatter of gunfire. Honestly, the guys on the ground were easy to deal with, even if they were scarily numerous already. It was the fact that the helicopter was starting to swing around, a door opening to show a machine-gun. Almost instantly, the spray from that gun forced Soap to put the hay between himself and the helicopter, making himself more vulnerable to the infantry.

[Ruby: Oh that machine gun is way too accurate to be fair!

Weiss: What are you _doing_?! You're practically asking for the guys on the ground to slaughter you!

Ruby: I can _stop_ the guys running at us from shooting, I can't stop the helicopter!

Weiss: You didn't even _try_!

Ruby: Okay, you want me to try, let's try!]

After a few moments, Soap started to get sick of that machine-gun keeping them pinned down. Taking a chance, he stood up and tried sending a few bursts to the small moving and absurdly accurate target. All but his eighth bullet missed, slamming into the surrounding armor, but the shot that hit was lucky. It caught the bastard in the leg as Soap's life started flashing in front of him. While it wasn't a lethal hit, it made the guy flinch as the helicopter paused in its strafe, and that flinch sent him tumbling right out of his seat. The head first landing from about ten yards in the air made it a quick end.

[Weiss: There, one less problem.]

Focusing back on the infantry, it was hard to say how many he cut down before the helicopter started shooting again. Once again shifting his position to avoid the spray from the air, he took a quick glance. Yep, they had another man in there to take the gunner position, and this guy was just as good.

[Ruby: Wish I could say I was surprised by that.

That just made Weiss shrink in her seat a little. Why didn't _she_ think that there were more than two people on that thing?]

Still, while the squad killing every enemy that came towards them didn't solve their problems, at the very least it bought Gaz the time he needed. "The door's open, sir!"

Just about everyone rushed to the door and scrambled down the stairs. Only two people stalled, Price and Nicolai. The Russian was screaming in his native language, either insults or just directionless profanities as he gave their pursuers as much pain as his gun could give them. In the hailstorm of bullets that began to close in around him, the man had let his rage take over.

[Blake: Wait, what is he doing?! The entire point of this was to 'save' him!

Ruby: Oh why'd he have to pull a Yang?

Yang: What do you mean by that?!]

Price was a different kind of pissed, the kind that made the heat from his mouth cut into Nicolai's fury with laser precision. "What the bloody hell are you waiting for?! Get down those stairs!"

And with that, Nicolai practically jumped down the staircase, moving so fast it was like his feet never touched the ground until he'd reached the bottom and took cover along the wall, breathing hard. Price wasn't far behind, shutting the metal door behind him and locking it. It wasn't a permanent solution, they still had to get out, but at least the enemy would have to work a little harder to reach them.

Giving Nicolai a meaningful look, the captain growled out, "Soap, take point and scout ahead for an exit."

[Yang was practically singing, "Someone's got detention."

Weiss:..I think this is a little more serious than a detention.

Blake: I wouldn't be surprised if Price slapped the spit out of him and screamed until he got hoarse.

Ruby: Doesn't really feel like his style..still, I'm really glad we don't have to be part of that talk. That's just going to feel awkward.]

The sound of an explosion outside killed any sense of levity Soap may have felt. Just because they managed to get this far didn't mean they were out of danger. Switching to the MP5, he somehow managed to get up the stairs rather smoothly considering he was crouched. Gaz was right behind him, quickly taking a look out the window at the top.

Taking a quick left than right, Soap was nearly hit by someone just outside. Quickly moving to the nearest window, he returned fire, smirking a little as he saw this batch of bastards were struggling and failing to get to the basement. His smirk died just as someone tossed a grenade, getting him right between the eyes. Dazed, he still had the good sense to rush back towards Gaz and avoid getting caught in the blast.

[Ruby: Good thing they didn't cook that grenade off.]

Before the smoke from the grenade cleared up, Gaz charged towards the same window Soap just ran from, opening fire on the enemy just seconds before Soap could get next to him, and after a few seconds they started turning tail.

It was at this point that the others came upstairs, passing the two shooting out the window and starting yet another firefight in the next room. Soap wanted to be absolutely sure that the group he was looking at was no longer a threat. Two men managed to escape and just kept running, he could have sworn they'd dropped their guns as they downright panicked. A third managed to climb the fence, but fell flat on his face as he got to the other side. Either he got shot, or he came off the fence wrong and gave himself a concussion.

Whatever the case, it was enough to satisfy the pair as they joined the rest of the squad. There were just two enemies to deal with just in front of the exit, one already on the ground and bleeding out but stubborn enough to pull out his pistol, holding his guts in with his other hand, trying to bring at least 'one' man down with him.

[Yang: Wow, that is actually pretty badass. No wonder the others couldn't just rush past them.

Blake: Considering the fact that taking prisoners seems to be a foreign concept around here, I'm amazed we haven't seen that more often.]

After three near misses towards Hoyt, Price finished the bastard off with a three round burst right to the pelvis. It was hard to say if the man's balls were hit, the angle was a little odd, but his back arched up in soundless agony, and then he just slumped flat on the ground.

[Blake: Ugh, if you have to finish someone off, at least go for something like the head or chest. Low blows are just..just _wrong_.

Weiss: Point one, he probably went into shock so he didn't feel too much of that before he died. Point two, considering how these guys treat their own citizens, they deserve some pain.]

The second was hiding behind a turned over table, taking the occasional shot over it. Soap took a moment to figure out where the crouching body was behind that cheap wooden furniture, fired a burst, and saw blood splatter on the wall behind it. Slowly approaching the exit, he kept his eye on that blood stain, wanting to confirm that the guy behind the table was actually dead..and he heard a pin get loose.

Pausing, it took only a few seconds for the last ditch grenade to go off. If the guy was hoping to toss it over the table, he just couldn't muster the strength for it. And with that, the squad had the freedom to exit the house. Hopefully they'd be able to gain some ground before they ran into more trouble.

* * *

Closing notes: Well this is as good a place to stop it as any. Next time, we unleash the hounds..and I'm looking forward to how Blake reacts.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Less than three seconds after they'd left the house, (SAS name) mumbled, " It's too quiet..where the hell did they go?"

Gaz took a quick look into a one story building in front of them, whispering back, "They're probably regrouping. Trying to cut us off somewhere up ahead.

[Yang: Please, after the beating they've been taking so far? They're probably all running away and want nothing to do with us.

Weiss: You saw _one_ squad of soldiers break after they saw their cover do nothing for them and most of them got killed trying to hold their ground. Every other group has charged relentless, and some of those troops kept fighting even as the bled to death. Is there a reason you think that one exception is going to be the rule from now on?

Yang: Partly wishful thinking, partly amazed how much ass the SAS boys can kick despite no aura.

Blake: At least you admit it's wishful thinking.]

Price did a quick check of his ammo supply as he said, "Stay sharp."

Soap took a moment to look at the area they were in right now. Lot of one story buildings clustered together, most of them shut tight. Like most of the other buildings they'd seen, there wasn't any sign of life, and barely any sign that people ever lived there. No chairs, maybe some makeshift tables where they put some wood on top of some barrels, and a few signs of outright neglect if you paid enough attention to the walls. The only thing that was in good shape was a vending machine. Somehow its glowing surface and the fact that it hadn't sold out on any of its drinks made it one of the creepiest sights Soap had seen outside of a horror movie.

Then there was of course the ruined car Gaz decided to stand near as he scanned the nearby area. Based on the crater in front of it and the way the front looked crumpled, it'd been way too close to an artillery strike. Not a direct hit but an unarmored two seater wouldn't have stood a chance. Odd that there were no other craters in the area, and while he could believe the windows were shattered by the blast, the fact that one of the doors was missing was disconcerting. And if there'd been any bloodstains, a nearby puddle implied the rains cleaned up the mess.

[Ruby: Anyone else get the feeling something very, very wrong happened here?

Blake: Yeah, and based on what we saw during the opening credits..I'm not sure I want to know.]

After the short break to get their bearings, the squad started to push forward. Sure, it might have been a better idea to get moving right off the bat since they were still deep in enemy territory, but when you know an area is swarming with enemies in probably every direction, you'll take any respite you can.

Eventually they reached a boarded up building. Technically it seemed like a two story structure based on the windows, but each floor apparently had windows large enough for a man to stand in. Sure, a short man who didn't break the five and a half foot mark, but still larger two and a half times larger than the windows on every other building they'd seen. Probably a small warehouse in an earlier life, though why was it the only building that was boarded up?

Soap's musings were cut off when the constant din of bugs doing whatever it is they do at night was broken by barks. Several barks, a few of them overlapping eachother.

[Blake barely managed to keep herself from falling off the couch's arm and scrambling out the room on all fours. Where everyone else was a little surprised by the noise but didn't really know how to react to it yet, about a decade of bad memories let her know _exactly_ what to expect, right down to the breed. She didn't whimper, thankfully..she didn't make _any_ noise, she even stopped _breathing_ for a few seconds.

Ruby: Wait..no people, but they left the dogs behind?]

And that's when Soap saw them, a pair of german shepherds dashing right at him.

[Weiss: What are they..

Yang: Why are they..

As the other two started asking similar questions, that's when Blake managed to remember how to talk. Thankfully it didn't come out as a squeak or whimper. When the words left her lips they sounded like a whispered plea. "Shoot them!"

Ruby took a full second to look at Blake. Stiff spine, legs pushing against the couch, eyes showing a combination of fear and embarrassment..definitely a far cry from the usually withdrawn center of calm of the team. She then turned her attention to the screen, noting the red targeting reticule when she got one of the dogs in her sights. Well, that made her feel a little less guilty..at least they didn't look like Zwei.]

Getting his MP5 to his hip, Soap started moving back as quick as he could, firing the whole time. The first dog was cut down five feet from him.

[Weiss felt her brain hiccup seeing a dog get gunned down. Sure, it was a fictional dog, but..

Yang: Whoa! What's with the dog killing, Ruby?!]

The second took a hit three feet away, rolled, and started trying to rush some more before taking several bullets to the head.

Unfortunately, Soap noticed a third coming from his left just as the second died, and before he could aim his gun at it, it leapt.

[The quarter second between when the third dog jumped and when the screen went red was brutal for Blake. Sure, intellectually she knew this wasn't the same as the dogs some racist bastards would unleash on smaller protest groups, or any of the other occasions she'd been bitten or saw someone else get mauled. The fact that a computer generated dog on screen acting aggressively turned her into a..a frightened little kid again was a personal humiliation she'd never let herself live down. Damnit, she'd faced plenty of Beowolves, which were 'far' more dangerous than your average dog, so why did seeing a digitized hound make her bite the inside of her lip hard enough to taste blood? And why was it either biting herself or diving behind the couch felt like the only options?! Still, as rough as it was, at least none of the others seemed to have noticed anything wrong.]

The dog tackled him, sending him flat on his back, and as he crossed his arms between himself and the dog's neck, he could already tell he'd screwed up 'badly'. His last thought as the dog tore out his throat was "Why aren't the others helping me?!" The last sight he saw was the dog spitting out his flesh as it got off him and started running again.

{"In war, you win or lose, live or die - and the difference is just an eyelash." General Douglas MacArthur}

[Weiss: Well..that's certainly an interesting message. And I've got to admit, I didn't expect those thugs to use dogs against us.

Yang: Yeah, you kind of need to be a caring person to raise a dog, and these guys are about as uncaring as they get.

Ruby gave Blake a look, hoping the raven haired girl would know it was a subtle question if she was alright. Unfortunately, Blake didn't see it like that. All she saw was a multitude of questions, all of them leading to directions she really didn't want to deal with. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she shrugged, and Ruby shifted her attention back to the screen. If Blake continued to act uncomfortable, then regardless Ruby was stopping this thing.]

Soap's musings were cut off when the constant din of bugs doing whatever it is they do at night was broken by barks. Several barks, a few of them overlapping eachother. Great, dogs. He hated dogs.

Two quickly came into sight, and they died before they even got within ten feet of him. A third started rushing at him from the left, and it lasted a grand total two extra seconds before it was just another corpse on the ground. Before he could start patting himself on the back, though, Soap started taking fire from Russian soldiers who were less than pleased their dogs were killed. The rest of Bravo Six chose that point to start shooting while Soap pulled back to the one story building, taking cover.

[The quick, efficient kills of the no-longer-a-surprise digital beasts gave Blake enough calm to say without any waver, "And of course, the rest of the squad didn't do a thing when the dogs showed up. No hesitation against unarmed ship workers, hesitation against dogs."

Yang: Well who'd even think a dog was a threat, anyway?

Blake: Fast, teeth, throat..were you not paying attention earlier?]

One of the Russians managed to get by the hailstorm of bullets, getting behind a wagon to try hitting Soap. He wasn't as quick to the trigger as the SAS trooper, and the wagon only covered his waistline. The first burst hit him in the leg, the second got him in the chest. The third was just a bit of paranoia since the man wasn't falling fast enough for Soap's liking.

Gaz wounded another who tried taking cover behind some barrels, and as Soap started moving forward again, he finished the bastard off. The others just sprayed bullets down the alley to discourage plenty of other enemies from rushing right at the squad.

[Ruby: Think I'll go left instead of straight here.

Weiss: But they're pinned, there's no one stopping you from -

Ruby: From walking right into their guns. But I don't think they're just sitting around the left side.]

Just as Soap tried to get to the alley on the left, assuming you could really call a wall and a lone two story building in a poor farming area something as dignified as an alley, three enemies worked up the courage to start dashing through the hailstorm of bullets. One was taken down by the rest of the squad, one was clipped by Price and finished off before he could recover, and the third suddenly decided to turn left to try finding some cover as he saw his two friends get killed before they could do anything. Unfortunately, he ran into a crouched Soap, who responded with a very efficient stab to the crotch.

[Ruby: Why does the knife always go there?!

Yang: Well either you've got some issues you've never told me..or the knife loves the taste of -

Ruby: Finish that sentence and fill your bra with itching powder.

Weiss almost said something about Yang possibly enjoying that when Ruby continued. "Before Professor Goodwitch's class."

That left both Blake and Weiss imagining themselves in that kind of situation, not sure if they should be surprised Ruby went that far with a threat, or worried Yang wouldn't be cowed by it.

Yang just smirked like a jackass and slowly drawled out, "..cock."

Weiss: Great, Monday's class is going to be..interesting.]

The poor bastard's fell to his knees, bleeding out with a silent scream as Soap turned back around and got moving while the rest of the squad rushed the same direction. Two enemies tried hiding behind a dumpster and weren't give a chance to do a thing, and as the squad pushed forward into a hailstorm of bullets, Soap and Gaz were the only ones who heard more barking behind them.

Both of them turned around at the same time, and as Gaz gunned one dog down, the other managed to jump on top of Soap. Before the dog could even 'think' about going for the kill, Soap let go of his gun, gripped both sides of the dog's head, and twisted.

[Ruby just _had_ to pause the game that that, mumbling, "Okay. Either the SAS or whatever group Soap was with before them drilled on how to kill dogs that jump on top of you, or.."

Weiss: Or what?

Ruby: Or he just thought of that quick way to kill dogs attacking him off the top of his head. I'm not sure what's scarier.

Blake didn't want to say anything, but she _definitely_ felt that wasn't scary. If anything, it was the single most heroic thing she'd seen in the game so far. Considering everyone else's opinion on dogs, however, she should probably keep it to herself. Yang seemed especially disturbed seeing a hound get its neck broken, and the last thing she needed was her partner/bunkmate learning that Blake felt dogs were just barely better than Grimm.]

* * *

Closing note: I know, very awkward place to end this chapter, and it's shorter than usual, but there is no good spot to break these missions up. Since the main focus this time was the dogs, I figured dealing with the last dogs was as good a place to break up this chapter as any other. It's made a little more difficult since I liked the bit in RWBY Chibi with Blake and Zwei in episode 14, but I suppose Blake will have time to put the little guy in a different category from most other dogs she's familiar with.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter even with its probably more abrupt than usual ending. Here's hoping I feel inspired for the next chapter in a hurry, and that when I do, I give it more meat and a better stopping point.


	22. Chapter 22

Opening note: Right, sorry this one took so long. Got way too many things happening for me right now. Since you're probably more interested in reading the story than knowing what slowed me down, on with the show. Hope you enjoy.

* * *

Chapter 22

There's not really much to say after breaking a dog's neck an instant before it feasts on yours. And it wasn't like Soap had the time to get philosophical about killing man's best friend with his bare hands in the middle of a firefight. All he could do was get back on his feet, find some targets and start shooting.

Part of him wanted to switch guns, an MP5 submachine gun wasn't the best choice for the enemies who were using a waist high wall for cover as they took potshots at the squad, especially considering the distance between the steel barrels he was using for cover. Still, a few of them were crazy enough to try to get closer, and they were easy enough to cut down.

[Ruby: Not sure if I should like how..generous the game is with cover, or annoyed that something this thin can stop assault rifle rounds. Seriously, it's a steel barrel. Thin bit of metal on each side. I can 'maybe' buy it slowing down the bullets if the metal is 'very' high quality, or stopping low caliber pistol rounds, but there's no way it's stopping shots from a gun like that just spraying right into it.

Weiss: Well, if this world doesn't have dust, maybe it has something less effective to shoot bullets.

Ruby:..assuming whatever they're using actually exists, I'm going to make a few test bullets and see just how the penetration compares to standard dust rounds. Because this is a little ridiculous.]

Seriously, after the first one got easily killed trying to hide behind the ruined car, why did another two try using that same spot? Not that standing still was doing them any favors with the rest of Bravo Six keeping a steady stream of fire on them, but it just seemed like a strange choice.

It was hard to say how long the rest of the fight went. Minutes or seconds, didn't really matter. Either way, once all the enemy was killed everyone got moving towards the buildings in a hurry. Less than three seconds from the end of the fight, a very distinct whirring sound was in the air, and Gaz stated the obvious. "Hold on, the helicopter's back."

Soap ducked into the closest thing to an alleyway he could find the moment he saw the gray beast and its searchlight scanning the ground. Sort of a small, inbetween section of a barn. Not quite inside but not quite outside, either. It was a little strange that no one else was trying to take cover, they pushed forward to a small gate a little further ahead, but tonight had made Soap a firm believer of the phrase "you can never be too careful".

[Blake: Right..not a lot of good cover against something like that.

Weiss: I don't really think cover 'matters' against something like that. Even if it doesn't have the firepower to make cover mean nothing, if it wants to it can attack from 'any' angle.]

Price took a moment to stare at how the searchlight was scanning the ground. "It doesn't look like they know where we are. Let's keep it that way."

Now that he knew the helicopter wasn't going to spot them right this second, Soap rejoined the others. If anyone found it funny that he'd taken an extra bit of cover while everyone else was perfectly safe out in the open, they didn't say anything or even smile. Price just opened the gate slowly, and quickly said "All right, let's press on. Move."

And with that, everyone pushed down the hill and crossed a small river. At the very least the water might make any more dogs lose their trail. And assuming the patrols continued to be inattentive, they might not notice the squad down the hill so long as they stayed quiet.

Still, Price wasn't taking any chances. "Hold up. Sentries on the bridge ahead."

[Yang: You can take 'em.

Ruby: Helicopter's still right there.

Yang: I know, I know. I just think sneaking around is just waiting for the other shoe to drop. If it's going to happen, get it over with.]

Soap thought about trying to shoot the sentries for a grand total of a quarter second before the helicopter flew right over the bridge, spotlight scanning the ground. Yeah, definitely no way they were going to be able to hit a few of the bastards and fade into the shadows out here.

As the helicopter turned, its light started going across the river. Everyone started hugging the wall, and Soap was didn't know what was worse. Nearly getting stabbed in the eye by a random branch of some plant he couldn't name, or resisting the urge to sneeze while one of its leaves tickled his nose.

After a short eternity, the light moved far enough away for the captain's tastes. "Let's move, but stay low."

[Blake: Yes, stay low..as you go up a hill. Just why aren't they following the river for a while longer?

Ruby: It might be a good hiding spot, but..kind of feels too obvious. Even if we're careful they might spot us down here randomly.

Blake: Sure, but trying to stay hidden 'anywhere' when there's this many people looking around with dogs is bad. But keeping on the move in a good if obvious path is better than taking an unpredictable path that puts you right in the open.]

The squad got away from the river, heading up a short incline and into some farmland. There were plenty of bundles of hay clustered together into a cylinder shape all over the place, tall grass all over..and patrols with flashlights walking around. Thankfully they'd spread out across the field so each man was essentially alone, and there didn't seem to be any dogs here. Still, it wouldn't be easy sneaking by all of them.

Soap somehow ended up as the point man for the squad despite the captain not saying anything. Not that you could really call anyone a point man in a situation like this. The enemy was rather obvious using flashlights at night..if anything, the flashlights probably limited their field of vision by a lot, even if it did let them see things with more detail.

[Weiss: You know..they're so busy trying to find the team that they're probably going to be easy to pick off.

Ruby: I don't know..feels like that would be getting a little greedy.

Yang: Come on, sis. What's more awesome? Running around and hiding, or kicking copious amounts of ass?

Blake: Again, helicopter. Nobody has anything to deal with it, and it can tear the SAS guys to shreds with ease. What part of that are you having trouble with?

Yang: The part where we've done some fighting out in the open already and went right back to sneaking around like a bunch of pussies.

Blake felt herself twitch at that and had to reign herself in. No, that wasn't a dig at her personally, it was just an unfortunate choice of words.

Weiss: I'm not saying go guns blazing. Just bring one or two guys down with the knife, and there will be fewer people to look for the squad. It should make things easier in the long run.

Ruby: If this goes wrong, I'm blaming you.]

While everyone else took cover behind some hay, Soap slowly approached the nearest Russian soldier. Slowly, crouched behind his target, he pulled out his knife. No way he was stupid enough to open fire with unsuppressed weapons if he wanted to do this right. When he got the range just right, he stood up, jammed his blade into the back of the poor bastard's head, and then dived into a crouch just to be sure no one saw him.

And to be fair, no one saw him..what they saw was one of their own falling down, flashlight no longer on. Every other patrolling Russian turned off their flashlight and opened fire at the general area where their comrade had fallen. One of the bullets got lucky, hit Soap right in the shoulder even though he should have been extremely hard to see in that lighting with the tall foliage. Panicking, he got to his feet and rushed to some hay for cover..and was cut down by the helicopter coming in from behind.

[All four were dead silent, eyes wide and jaws slack. Ruby because it happened so fast that she doubted even if she was at her most attentive and could use her semblance it wouldn't have made a difference. Weiss because she was trying to digest just how something that seemed like a good idea ended up so wrong so fast. Blake because she understood what just happened and was shocked at the sheer ruthlessness. And Yang felt every boastful, tough-girl thing in her repertoire go from awesome sounding to completely stupid.]

{" _If your attack is going to well, you're walking into an ambush._ " Infantry Journal}

[Blake was the first one to find her voice, and it was quite the cocktail of emotions. Disgust, respect, disgust at the fact that she could find anything respectable about it, and horror all in one sentence. "Those clever, callous sickos."

Weiss: Clever how? What just happened?!

Blake: Those flashlights weren't to help the guys holding them. They were _bait_! And when they saw one of their bait go down, they sprung the trap!

Yang: Using their own guys as bait?! I know we're kicking ass, but..the hell makes people even _think_ of something like that?!

Blake: They don't care what they have to do in order to get what they want. So long as they feel they can get it in the end.

Something was starting to itch at Ruby's brain. Not really a sense of suspicion, just some puzzle pieces coming together and forming a blurry picture of Blake. Gambol Shroud's design seemed meant for smaller targets like beowulves, boarbadusks..possibly people. She was afraid of the dogs that charged them in the game, but wild dogs and wolves don't go after people unless they're starving and extremely desperate..but trained ones do, and people train dogs. She literally had to force herself to say anything about her past, while Weiss at least tried to cover some basics before she seemed uncomfortable. And she was arguably more unwilling to tolerate the idea of the protagonists of a video game that she was watching being morally ambiguous people than Ruby, the person actually playing the game, was. And Ruby only objected because she was pretty used to simple white-knight-vs-monsters stories.

It was a mixed blessing that Yang and Weiss didn't seem to be catching the potential issue. On one hand, that meant if and when Ruby approached Blake to try to figure things out she wouldn't have to worry about either of them unintentionally making things harder. On the other, it meant she'd have absolutely no choice but to deal with things on her own without even trying to go to Yang for advice. Her sister would definitely want to be a part of it if Ruby wanted to, for lack of a better way to put it, interrogate her partner.

Still, that was something for another time. For now, there was still a good amount of bonding to be done, and little tidbits to learn about both Weiss and Blake based on their reactions and suggestions for the game. "Well, that's why they're the bad guys and we're the good guys, right? We beat them, we teach them that's not how you try getting your goals."

Weiss: At the very least, beating them should be immensely satisfying.]

Soap somehow ended up as the point man for the squad despite the captain not saying anything. Not that you could really call anyone a point man in a situation like this. The enemy was rather obvious using flashlights at night..if anything, the flashlights probably limited their field of vision by a lot, even if it did let them see things with more detail.

As tempting as it was to try taking them down, Soap decided discretion was the better part of valor. Moving low, he used their poor vision and the greenery to cross yet another river. Of course, on the other side it looked like the enemy was more thickly packed together. Crawling along the grass, he was maybe four yards from the enemy when one of the guys patrolling yelled.

Soap didn't know which of them spotted someone, didn't know who was spotted, all he knew was the enemy seemed a bit taken aback, as if they weren't expecting to actually 'find' anyone in the haphazard way they were going about it. That moment of shock was enough for Soap to cut three of them down before they even had a chance to react. While everyone else was trying to catch up, shooting some enemies on their way to Soap, the point man dashed into a building, taking potshots at the enemy behind him and hoping the helicopter wouldn't get any shots off.

On the plus side, the building he was in had a roof. On the minus, the roof, and a good amount of the walls, seemed to be made of glass. Not exactly a good place to make a stand.

* * *

Closing Note: Well, hopefully the next chapter will come a lot sooner than this one did. See you then.


	23. Chapter 23

Opening Notes: Well, we're finally done with this mission. Next up, we see how the team likes raising hell with the AC-130. That's right, they get to see the hammer come down in this one.

* * *

Chapter 23

Whoever started the saying about glass houses and throwing stones was an idiot. Oh sure, Soap agreed with the general idea behind it, but the analogy was somehow a little iffy since various bits of glass and the very thin bits of metal holding them up were his only protection.

Maybe he was frequently lucky and the helicopter was hitting the various bits of metal. Maybe the glass was obscuring the view enough to throw off their aim. Or maybe the helicopter crew didn't want to damage the plants for some reason. Whatever the case, he was damn surprised the helicopter ceased fire.

[Weiss: I'm not sure what's more confusing, the fact that there are greenhouses in such a poor, rural area or that they don't seem to have doors.

Yang: Don't know about the lack of doors, but I can think of some plants they might want to grow in a more..controlled place.

Weiss:..how many are legal?

Yang:..depends where you're getting them. Atlas or Vale?

Blake had the sudden image of Yang as a tackily dressed drug dealer and Weiss as an anemic addict and had to stifle a giggle.]

As tempting as it was to take cover behind what looked like a plow, it probably wouldn't do him any good if the helicopter decided to stop watching the Russian infantry get cut down but Brave Six's gunfire. So he moved to a nearby shack, took two of the bastards down and then rushed under a roofed thing that seemed to only have one wall. If he wasn't in the middle of a life-or-death situation, he'd have probably asked what that even was.

The helicopter chose about that point to stop uselessly hovering over him and push further ahead to try cutting him off. With that, the rest of the squad caught up to Soap in the second greenhouse. Around a dozen more enemies rushed right at them, taking cover behind a variety of things. Steel barrels, concrete blocks, a ruined building, massive metal shipping containers, it didn't matter where they hid.

Within seconds each man was cut down, the only ones able to get off any shots were the ones that tried running and gunning. It was hard to really blame them. Everyone that tried taking the time to stop and aim was near instantly cut down regardless of where they took cover. The entire squad was on that thin line between recklessly frantic and professionally calm that always happens when disciplined soldiers feel the odds heavily stacked against them. While the numerous infantry they were running into were fresh, sure that this small group would eventually die, and maybe starting to get unnerved that they hadn't succeeded yet.

As the last man charging them fell, the spotlight once again started scanning Bravo Six, prompting Price to yell, "That helicopter is making another pass, find some overhead cover!"

[Ruby: Um, why not stay in here? For some reason they can't shoot through the glass roof, and we're really kicking their infantry's butts.

Blake: Yes, brilliant plan. Stay in one place so they can potentially get some equipment capable of destroying that building over there. At least when you're on the move they'll have some more trouble getting reinforcements.

Ruby: I'm just saying getting away from 'this' roof to find another one with that helicopter overhead probably isn't the safest idea.]

As the squad started entering the ruined building and found what looked like a painfully thin metal ceiling just outside of it..assuming you could say outside in a building this badly torn up, it looked like the enemy had taken up defensive positions in a mostly undamaged barn. Soap wasn't sure about the others, but he felt a little absurd constantly moving around, occasionally crouching or even going prone on his belly at times to keep the helicopter from getting an easy shot at him while trying to take out a bunch of bastards less than ten yards away. If he hadn't gotten absurdly used to bullets flying all over tonight, he might have started to get worried, especially those few times the enemy managed to get a hit on him.

[Ruby: Okay, we were 'definitely' safer at the greenhouse!

Weiss: Looks like they figured out just rushing straight at us was a bad idea..it also looks like the path forward was so painfully predictable that the area is probably going to be swarming if we don't get moving again.

Yang: Now 'this' is a lot more awesome than all the hiding from before.

Blake: Also a lot more likely to get everyone killed before the enemy even has time to get reinforcements over here.

Ruby: Oh crapohcrapthatfreakingshipis _really_ making this tough!]

By some miracle nobody in Bravo Six was taken down by the hail of gunfire while the enemy kept losing troops, and in a fit of sheer spite the remaining four just took up defensive positions inside the barn. On the plus side, there was less gunfire flying at them. On the other hand, the helicopter was still overhead, by this point just spraying at the thin roof in hopes of eventually hitting them, and there was nothing between them and the barn other than a pair of trucks that were liable to blow up if shot at for an extended period of time and some ammo crates.

[Weiss: Wait..I just noticed all the sand bags and..is that a 'trench' between us and the barn?!

Yang: Looks more like a small moat to me.

Weiss: My point is how did they managed to do that much set-up for this defensive line? And why does it look like they set it up in case we came from either direction?!

Blake: Well, with all the battle damage, I'd guess these guys fought the people Kamerov works for at some point. Maybe they just didn't feel like shifting around the various defenses since they took the area a short time ago?

Weiss: You're just guessing.

Blake: Not like we can just ask them.]

Taking a moment to get an angle on the helicopter, getting dangerously close to death in the process, Soap picked off the current gunner on the helicopter, sure that they'd probably replace him in less than a minute. Still, that less than a minute was long enough for the squad to start dashing into the barn.

While Soap quickly took down a man hiding behind a tractor on the left, Gaz dealt with the man standing on the right side of the door with a knife to the chest. Hoyt and Price blazed at the pair upstairs, hitting one who was getting a grenade ready. The other Russian had the bad choice of either staying next to a grenade about to blow, or getting himself killed much faster by scrambling away from it and into the entire squad's line of fire. He chose to try to run, and five separate assault rifles riddled him with holes just two seconds before the grenade sent him flying.

[Yang: Oh yeah, not much left of him!]

Gaz was the first one to notice a rather convenient type of weapon just laying on top of a crate. "Captain Price, we've got stinger missiles in the barn."

Soap couldn't really see Price's grin that well in the combination of questionable lighting and all that facial fur. It was still pretty shark-like, though. "Soap, grab a stinger and take out that chopper!"

[Blake: Guess it's my turn to ask a potentially stupid question. What's supposed to be the "stinger"?

Ruby: I'm guessing the tube-style rocket launcher is it.]

Trading his MP5 for a launcher, he took a moment to set the scope up before putting it on his shoulder. As the helicopter made a high speed pass in front of the door, he aimed, hearing the tell-tale beep of the rocket locking on.

[Weiss: Anyone want to guess what it's locking onto?]

With the slightly annoying buzz that meant the rocket was locked, Soap fired, and the helicopter didn't waste any time. Dropping what was probably its entire supply of flares, it just managed to convince the rocket to veer off. Literally less than a second away from striking the aircraft, the projectile started to turn as if it wanted to chase the little lights raining down and just wasn't maneuverable enough to do it in one turn, smashing into a tree before it really started heading towards the ground.

[Yang: Well whatever it was looking 'with' was just fooled.

Blake couldn't help noticing that was about the same idea behind her shadow copies. It was rather odd to see something 'that' well armored having equipment designed to prevent it from getting damaged at all.]

Gaz looked about ready to kick a wall in frustration. "Bloody hell, he's popping flares! This won't be easy! Soap, grab another stinger and fire again! Let's put him to the test!"

[Ruby: Why does Soap have to do that? There's plenty of rocket launchers, why not have more than one guy ready to shoot if the helicopter's the only thing we have to worry about?

Weiss: There's always the chance more infantry could come before the helicopter's taken down.]

By this point there was a fresh gunner on the aircraft, and Soap had the unenviable task of trying to lock onto the damn thing while getting shot at. Thankfully the buzzing noise for a lock happened 'just' as his vision was almost completely consumed with red, and he launched, getting inside to avoid any lucky shots taking him down.

The helicopter somehow managed to have enough flares to equal the previous drop, but more impressively, despite the evasive maneuvers and distractions it was dropping, this time the stinger wasn't fooled. Crashing right underneath the helicopter's belly, it began to spin out of control, internal explosions going off and setting the top rotor on fire. Falling behind one of the few undamaged buildings in the area, it eventually made a loud crash, various bits of debris became visible for a few seconds before they came back down to the probably twisted wreckage.

[Yang: Actually kind of disappointed the damage didn't look better. Then again, the game couldn't be bothered to have the tree top shatter when a rocket hit it, so half assed damage to the flying menace I've been looking forward to seeing shot down? Not that surprising we didn't see much sting.

Blake: Really? It's called a stinger and the best pun you could do was just "sting"?

Yang: Hey, it was worth a chuckle.

Blake: You hear anyone chuckle?

Yang:..no?

Blake: Then it probably wasn't worth a chuckle.

Weiss: Yang's rather weak humor aside -

Yang: Hey! My humor's great, you guys just don't get it!

Weiss: - I don't know if I should be should be impressed by the power behind that rocket or shocked that aircraft could only take one solid hit. A bullhead could take two or three rockets. Trust me, I've seen some of the durability tests the Atlas army does for vehicles, and the last thing we need are fragile things going up against Grimm.

Blake:..right, as if Grimm are likely to shoot rockets. Or as if rockets are generally built to deal with anything other than Grimm.]

"Bloody nice shooting there, Soap."

[Ruby: Kind of hard to miss twice in a row with something that chases its targets, Gaz.]

Price said what was probably the first non-backhanded compliment the captain gave in the past twenty four hours. "Good work, Soap. Everyone on me. Let's move out."

Taking a moment to grab the MP5 again, Soap followed the rest of the squad up the ramp and through the second floor door. He wasn't going to question why they took the back door, even if he felt like the metal chainlink fence wasn't really blocking them off from their desired direction.

It was at this point that Baseplate sent them a transmission. "Bravo Six, be advised, that AC-130 is entering your airspace at this time. Out."

Well it was about bloody time. As the squad got to the top of the next hill, seeing the road and some more buildings, what looked like a convoy of jeeps and trucks stopped right in front of them.

[Ruby: Okay..back to the barn?

Yang: Oh, that's a lot of guys..good thing we've got plenty of bullets.]

Price gave a hand signal to stop moving just as their support came through on the radio. "Bravo Six, this is Warhammer standing by. Heard you could use some help down there. Call the shot."

[Weiss: I thought it was called an AC-130.

Ruby: That kind of name is a little tough to say in casual conversation, so I guess the crew named it something better.]

Price somehow managed to sound calm even as he saw a tank join the rest of the convoy. "Warhammer, fire mission, danger close! Enemy armor and infantry, one hundred meters to the southwest of our location, over."

[Yang: Yikes, bringing a tank for a single squad..maybe you should have grabbed one of those rocket launchers, sis.

Ruby: Based on the way it tracked its target, I don't think it was meant for shooting things on the ground.

Yang: Better than noth..

Everyone went silent the instant the air support started, jaws dropping once again.]

"Copy. Comin' down."

The first cannon shot annihilated the tank, smacking the extremely small neck between the turreted cannon and the main armor. The turret was still in the air with a fireball under it when the second shot came down, taking out a truck. Then a third, fourth, fifth, slaughtering most of the vehicles in the convoy and anyone unfortunate enough to be near them.

Out of sheer instinct, Soap started shooting at the numerous people running away from the burning wreckage of their task group. He doubted any of them even noticed that there was someone shooting at them on the ground in their blind panic.

Out of sheer thoroughness, several more cannon shells rained from the sky, blowing up anything that hadn't already been blown up and leaving the road obscured in smoke. Gaz spoke for everyone when he cried out in almost teenage levels of jubilation, "Ah, that's bloody outrageous mate!"

[Yang: Di..did they just..those guys were crushed 'instantly' by something we didn't even get to 'see'!

Weiss: It just..rained fire on them through the clouds. What the hell would let them do something that like from so far in the air that..the air should be so thin that whoever's in..how?!

Ruby: Every shot hit. Absolutely every one hit, not a single wasted shot. How can anyone aim a cannon like that 'through' clouds?! They shouldn't have been able to 'see' their targets from so far away!

Blake: Maybe I've been reading all the wrong fiction, but aren't the good guys usually poorly equipped but well trained and dealing with overwhelming odds skillfully? Since when do good guys just rain death from the sky with 'nothing' to stop them! Where's the same rocket launchers that left the squad stranded out there in the first place? Do they not have the range for it, or are the clouds hiding it too well for their launchers?! I just..

RWBY:..whoa.]

There was maybe one man who walked out of the smoke, hazed and holding his side. Soap didn't even give him the chance to collapse on his own. Warhammer was absurdly calm considering he left a building and several armored vehicles burning in less than five seconds. "Bravo Six, we'll cover you all the way to the extraction zone. You'd better get moving."

With that, the squad started moving towards the ruined convoy and Price replied, "Roger that, Warhammer. We're moving out now. Out."

Perhaps noticing that Soap was admiring the destruction so much he was slower than everyone else, Price went up to him and with that very authoritive tone of voice said, "Come on, let's go."

[As the screen blackened to signify the end of the mission, everyone had only one question. How the hell was the game going to follow 'that' up.]


	24. Chapter 24

Opening Note: Alright, here we are. The AC-130 mission. This mission is a good deal different than the rest of Modern Warfare, but I hope I managed to do this first half of it in an interesting way. I hope everyone also enjoys the team's commentary. Here's hoping I can get the next chapter about as fast, if not sooner than this one.

* * *

Chapter 24

The screen moved to the overhead map again, and a small window showing an aircraft popped up. It looked..bird like, if a little fat in proportions. It was hard to say just how large it really was, but based on the fact that it had two propellers on each wing, Weiss was willing to bet it was bigger than a bullhead but smaller than a Crusader class battlecruiser. That was a rather broad approximation, though. Regardless, it didn't 'look' like something capable of causing all the damage they'd seen at the end of the previous mission, so she was certainly paying attention to the AC-130 Spectre.

The window gave a slightly spinning view of the thing before the window took over the screen and zoomed in to the schematics. First, it showed off a twenty five millimeter gatling gun, capable of one thousand and eight hundred rounds per minute. Ruby sucked in a breath. "It's high enough to be above the clouds and they feel it's accurate enough for gatling guns?! That thing has to be at 'least' three miles up for something like that!"

Yang seemed even more confused. "Oh there's no way they used that to kill that tank. No way a gatling gun is going to have that kind of impact regardless of how fast it's going."

Then it showed a second weapon, a forty millimeter cannon that had a rate of one hundred rounds per minute. Definitely an impressive size, though the largest conventional cannon Remnant had ever actually seen was around seventy-five millimeters. People didn't really feel a need for larger projectiles when laser weapons started getting popular.

Yang certainly seemed more enthused by this gun. "Oh yeah, now 'that' is some serious firepower."

Blake snorted at that. "Yes, very serious. A gun that's probably strong enough to pierce the average deathstalker attached to what may as well be an artificial nevermore. Excuse me for feeling a little more unnerved that the supposed good guys have that kind of hardware."

Weiss was about to say something about how it certainly helped against the bad guys when the screen showed one more gun. One hundred and five millimeters, ten rounds per minute. The room was silent for a moment..then everyone started talking at once and Weiss couldn't tell who said what.

"Oh yeah, that's gonna leave some serious craters!"

"What do they even 'need' that thing for?!"

"Only ten rounds a minute? If takes longer to reload than a bow then you've either oversized it or you're not loading it right!"

"Huh, guess they don't have laser cannons. Kind of a shame."

As the other three turned to stare at Weiss, she nervously shifted her hair a little. "What?"

Yang was the one who broke that silence just before the game actually started. "They're pulling out a gun that's bigger than 'anything' Remnant's ever built..and you're not impressed or incredulous?"

Absently noticing Ruby had paused the game just as it hit the pre-mission black screen, Weiss shrugged. "Well, it's physically possible to make a conventional gun that large, but as far as I can see there's not enough of a benefit to make it practical for a real military. The amount of dust to give it reasonable velocity, the durability of the barrel to withstand that kind of explosive, that doesn't come cheap. And any Grimm tough enough to 'need' that kind of firepower is more efficiently dealt with via laser cannons. They're less expensive to maintain, will severely burn or melt anything they don't just cut through, and you don't need to calculate where something's going to move since nothing moves faster than light."

Yang's eyes darted to her sister, prompting Blake and Weiss to do the same. Ruby had a rather interesting enthusiastic glow to her eyes. "Well, they aren't really fighting against Grimm, so the weapons haven't evolved to compete with them. All they've got to do is compete with eachother in a world where nobody has any aura, which means the more extreme the range, the better. And conventional guns have got a 'lot' more range than lasers, even if they don't move as fast. Light eventually goes through diffraction no matter how intense and powerful you make it, but a bullet or shell is going to keep its mass until it finally hits something. Add in the fact that they apparently don't have to worry about going too high up in the air like we do, and there are a 'lot' of possibilities."

Weiss didn't know if she should be impressed Ruby knew a word like diffraction, annoyed that the younger girl just countered her verbally, or just ignore the response..nevermind, there was no way the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company would let something like this slide. She had her pride. "Yes, possibilities to come up with things that wouldn't work all that well in real world situations but are still plausibly buildable."

That got Yang to outright laugh a moment. "Yeesh, even when you're having 'fun' you've got a stick up you're ass. One of these days we've got to weaponize 'that' and see how the grimm like it!"

That got Blake laughing, which somehow got everyone laughing, even Weiss despite the fact that she was the butt of the joke. It was downright baffling, but..Weiss could get used to this feeling.

* * *

As the thermal imaging tv operator got adjusted the screen, he quickly scanned for the squad they were supposed to be covering. It wasn't that hard, they'd already slaughtered everything else in the nearby area. He counted about eight flashing people on the ground. Taking a moment to check if white-hot or black-hot vision was better given the environment. Cold Russian rural area with plenty of forests and farmland..at least it wasn't as bad as a desert.

[Blake: Great. Dog vision. I think I can already feel the headache coming.

Yang: Think I prefer when hot things look red and cold things blue. Definitely more interesting to see red vs blue than black vs white.

Ruby: You know, I think we've been cheated..there's no way these guys saw 'anything' through the clouds with this camera, much less saw well enough for absurdly accurate shots. And why is it our squad looks like it grew a little in less than a minute?]

The leader of the squad, a Captain Price, got on the radio. "Wildfire, we're moving up the road towards the town to the east. Confirm you have a visual on us.

[Weiss: I thought they were called Warhammer, not Wildfire.]

Almost immediately the tv operator confirmed, "Got eyes on friendlies."

The fire control officer also quickly stated "Crew, do not fire on any targets marked by a strobe, those are friendlies."

[Ruby: If our guys have something that lets them flash like that, what's stopping the other guys from pulling something out to flash, too?

Weiss: I'm more curious why they even have whatever does that since they weren't expecting to 'need' this kind of air support. They were planning to be nice and safe in that helicopter.]

Switching to the one hundred and five millimeter cannon view, scanning the area, the small village didn't seem to have any signs of life other than the squad they were trying to protect. Strange. You'd think they'd be swarming all over the place considering how long these guys had been running around and causing hell before the AC-130 had even arrived.

The navigator for the plane absently said, "Uh, tv, confirm you see the church in the town."

The operator took a moment to spot the church, the biggest building in the area. The tower looked about five stories up, and the hole structure seemed wide enough to take any two buildings in the village inside of it. "We see it, start the clock."

The fire control officer confirmed the sighting. "Roger that, we're there. Start talking."

The navigator told the gunning team, "You are not authorized to level the church. Do not fire directly on the church."

[Yang: Is it just me or do these guys sound like they've only just started working together?

Blake: I'm more concerned that they need to use radios just to talk to eachother. Shouldn't the crew be in the same part of the aircraft?]

The tv operator noticed something on the top of the screen. "Got a vehicle moving now!"

[Ruby: Where? I can't see it!]

The fire control operator confirmed it seconds later. "One of the vehicles is moving right now."

[Ruby: "One of the vehicles"? I can't see anything moving! Someone tell..oh, there it is.

Blake: Ugh, whoever decided on the shading for this bit was a sadist. It doesn't matter if you switch white to black or black to white. It's still a pain to really notice anything.]

The car moved near the church at the same time a bunch of Russian infantry started pouring out of the building. Clever bastards were trying to use the rules of engagement to their advantage. Still, if they really wanted to hurt the American and British forces in the area, they'd divert some anti-air positions or even fighter jets to the area. "Personnel coming out of the church."

The fire control operator confirmed it. "We have armed personnel approaching from the church, request permission to engage."

This time the pilot answered. "Copy. You are cleared to engage the moving vehicle, and any personnel around you see."

And with that, the fire control operator gave the go-ahead to open fire. "Affirmative. Crew you are cleared to engage but do not fire on the church."

[Ruby: Okay, let's see how these guns actually feel from up he..okay, I'm not really sure the gatling gun is the best idea. There are just way too many guys and using that gun zooms us in way too much. Doesn't really feel that satisfying either.

Yang: Yeah, go for the big stuff. Hell, see what the one oh five can do!

Weiss: A hundred and five millimeters? Against 'infantry'?! That's like using a sledge hammer to crush a mosquito!

Yang: Well, the game doesn't seem to have any ammo limits in this bit.

Ruby: Fine, may as well see what one shot looks like.]

"Shot! It's shot!"

"Oooh, that's gotta hurt."

[Blake: Aaand the shot obscures most of the screen in a bunch of smoke. Was it worth it?

Yang:..eh..yeah, got to admit, it wasn't as awesome as I'd have thought.]

"Gun ready!"

[Yang: Maybe it's the perspective? That would have probably looked a lot more awe inspiring from the ground.

Weiss: Doubt it. The only things that can get damaged are the things the game decides can be damaged. Kind of hard to make explosives seem impressive when there's no craters afterwards.

Ruby: Right, switching to the forty.]

"Right there..tracking. That's a hit. Get that person. Yeah, good kill. I see lots of little pieces down there."

[Blake: Is it just me or does this seem a lot more..impersonal than the rest of the action we've seen in the game so far?

Ruby: Now that you mention it..yeah. We've gone from extremely intense ground action where just one screw up can be deadly to..casually bombing guys who can't touch us and hearing people we can't see or even know the names of complimenting the one sided, cold brutality.]

"Whoa!"

"Shit, must have been a tank full of gas."

[Ruby: Not really sure how to feel about that.

Blake: Maybe it's supposed to be a subtle commentary about how callous and uncaring people can be if they aren't right there, in the middle of the life-threatening situation. The further away you are from it, the less likely you are to really care about what's going on.

Weiss: Or it could just be an idea that looked good on paper and didn't quite translate in practice.

Blake:..sure, go ahead and assume it's a mistake instead of a commentary.

Yang: Well whatever it is, it's..surprisingly dull. Sure, you probably don't want things to be insanely intense all the time, but still..probably not the best way to change things up.]

Price yelled over the radio again. "Wildfire, this is Bravo Six. Be Advised, we're passing a large church and continuing towards the main highway! Keep up the fire! Bravo Six out!"

The pilot acknowledged that. "Roger that. Engage anything without a flashing strobe light. Those are hostiles."

[Weiss: We noticed.

Ruby: I can't really tell if I should feel insulted they think we need to be reminded.

Blake: And again, I can't help wondering if we're really the good guys here.

Weiss: Ugh, what? You think the only good stories are the ones where the heroes are absurdly out of their depth?

Blake: Excuse me for thinking it's hard to imagine heroes being able to blast at villains with what amounts to an artificial nevermore completely unopposed.

Yang:..yeah, it's kind of gone from exciting to one sided. Wow, I thought being inside something that's essentially a bunch of flying cannons would be a lot more awesome.

Weiss: Again, it was a good idea that wasn't executed right..and thank you for putting that image in my head, Blake. Very reassuring.

Blake: What?

Weiss: A big metal nevermore. With big metal feathers to rain on people. A regular one was tough enough we needed an insane trick to kill, much less one that's made of hardened steel.

Yang: Oh please, if the grimm start turning metal than can you imagine what Pyrrha would do to them?]

In the midst of the rather one sided slaughter that might make someone wonder how they'd managed to start feeling bored flying a death machine to battle, the tv operator noticed something. "We got a moving vehicle here."

The fire control officer took a look and displayed the first real bit of emotion anyone on the spectre had shown, concern. "Negative, negative. Do not engage, I repeat, do not engage any vehicles on the main highway."

[Weiss: Great, one moment he says shoot absolutely anything that isn't one of ours, the next he's telling us to 'not' shoot what might be more troop transports. And is it just me, or is it nearly impossible to tell how well the ground team we 'used' to be is doing?

Ruby: Well, at least nobody's screaming that they're getting slaughtered. That's got to mean we're doing well, right?

Blake: Of course they aren't getting slaughtered. The other guys are completely defenseless..and you'd think they'd have some kind of defense for this thing if they could shoot down our helicopter.

Ruby: Well, it's higher in the air. I don't think you can load anything meant to shoot down something several miles up in a hand-held tube.]

And with that, the squad started running towards the main highway, prompting whoever was in the trucks to hit the breaks, allowing the various members of Bravo Six to decide which of the pair of vehicles they were each going to get in.

* * *

Ending Note: I know, not a great place to break the action, such as it is, but I figure everyone wants this up soon. Especially considering the wait for some of the other chapters in this fic.


	25. Chapter 25

Opening Note: Yeah, the girls really aren't enjoying the AC-130 mission at all. While I personally found it a nice change of pace from the rest of the game when I actually played it, I somehow doubt four girls that can bring down a massive demon bird in the entrance exam for their school really need a power fantasy moment. They're more interested in the sense of "oh god oh god I could go down within seconds". It's oddly a novel experience for them to play as someone who isn't able to simply be stunned by a grenade going off right under 'em.

It doesn't help matters that the footage for the mission is eye-straining black and white, and as much as I look at the various footage for things to describe..it just doesn't work partly because it's not made clear who we're supposed to be on the AC-130. There are fourteen people on your average spectre gunship, we hear from maybe three or four of them, and none of them seem to have any personality for me to expand on. Add in the fact that most of the mission is just chatter from these mostly emotionless guys we never really meet, and it's awkward writing this mission.

Still, hope I'm managing to make it fun. Next chapter is already in the works. Don't worry, we'll get out of this soon enough.

* * *

Chapter 25

Since any enemies left in the immediate area seemed to be either running away or already hiding, the tv operator didn't see any problem with zooming in on the squad they were covering. Four men per vehicle, one of them at the driver's door, opening it with one hand and aiming a gun at the driver with the other. At least one of the guys at a driver's door decided to grab the poor bastard and toss him out.

[Yang: Hold on! The guy's foot's no longer on the pedal! Shouldn't the truck be moving at least a 'little' right now? Or did he honestly put it on park while he's getting carjacked?]

Price decided it was time to tell the AC-130 crew what he was doing despite the fact that it was fairly obvious. "Wildfire, we're going to commandeer civilian transports on the main highway. Cover us!"

[Blake: Our heroes ladies. Committing grand theft auto just because it's convenient for them.

Weiss didn't know what was more disturbing. The fact that part of her wanted to justify stealing in this case, or the part of her that wanted to blame the drivers who just happened to have horrifically bad luck. Either way, she decided it was better to keep her mouth shut for now. No need to make anyone think she advocated criminal activities, even if it was a little justified here.]

The fire control officer decided to remind everyone while the squad was getting some ground transportation, "Crew, do not engage any vehicles on the highway, those are civilians. Ground units are acquiring alternate transport at this time. Do not engage any vehicles on the highway unless cleared to do so."

[Ruby: Yeesh, it's like they don't have any confidence that the gunner..or gunners, will be able to remember anything that happened more than a few seconds ago.

Weiss: They have some pretty big guns on that aircraft. When a possible consequence is killing innocent people or your own guys, would 'you' take any chances?

Ruby: There's being careful and then there's having absurdly little confidence in your guys. We know what Bravo Six is doing. Price just told us. Someone telling us what we've already heard from someone else just sounds stupid.]

The tv operator took a moment to stare at one of the civilians. For a second or two he was on all fours while half the squad got into his truck. Then he stood up in a flash and ran like hell away from the road. It was doubtful the guy had a destination in mind, he just wanted to get away from the road and whatever trouble was about to happen..and probably trying to ignore all the corpses and craters the squad had already left in their wake. "I bet that guy's pissed. That's a nice truck."

Outright chuckling, the fire control operator replied, "Nah, he's scared shitless."

[Blake: Yes, laugh at a man who's just been robbed by a bunch of soldiers. Especially since there's little to no chance he's ever getting that truck back even if it's left abandoned, and I doubt he's got a lot of money for another truck.

Yang: Scary thought here..are the local troops going to help, hurt, or just ignore the poor drivers?

Ruby: I doubt they'd help..not after the way they nearly shot that old man just for being near where we crashed. So hopefully ignore?]

Price yelled over the radio again. "Wildfire, we've marking the vehicles! Confirm you see the beacons!"

The fire control officer was all business again. "Roger, we see the beacons. Crew, do not fire on the vehicles marked with the flashing beacons, I repeat do not fire on the vehicles with the flashing beacons. Those are friendlies."

[Ruby: You know, just to spite these guys I hope the enemy can do the same sort of flashing.

Weiss:..you're hoping the bad guys make it more confusing for you?

Ruby: I'm hoping it gets to feel interesting again. Look, I get we're probably supposed to feel nice and powerful up in this spectre thing, but..I was really liking the characters, the story, and the way the fights seemed to be going. But we're just so..distant from everything right now.

Blake: Funny. I thought you might appreciate the occasional bit of distance. You 'do' use a sniper rifle.

Ruby: That's physical distance, not emotional. I can't tell who's talking when it isn't Price, and they're so obsessed with procedure that the 'instant' things stop going according to plan they're probably going to panic.

Weiss: Or they might have a procedure for everything that they could possibly deal with. Planning ahead 'works'.

Blake: Only if things go according to plan.]

The navigator noticed something further ahead and started moving the plane away from the squad's current position. "Heads up, hostile forces are setting up ambush points along the curved road."

Now that made the fire control officer hesitate for a moment. "Uh, navigation, which one is the curved road, over?'

If the navigator was annoyed that it hadn't been immediately obvious, he didn't let it enter his voice. "Fire control, do you see the water town, over?"

Now it was the operator's turn to sound less than sure of himself. "Are you talking about the, uh, the water tower near the intersection?"

[Weiss: I think I see 'three' water towers.

Yang: No, I think those two near the top of the screen are just..what are those farm tower things called, anyway?

Weiss: Don't ask me, I know mines and vehicles! Not farming!

Ruby: If it doesn't have anything to do with heroes and or weapons, I'm not the girl to ask.

Blake:..I think silo is the word your looking for.

Yang: Thank you Blake. You are now officially the team's encyclopedia.]

"Roger, that's the one. And next to that water tower is a curved road, do you see that?"

As the fire control officer took a closer look, he had to admit that road wasn't as straight as the rest. "Roger that."

"Track that road into the next village. You should be able to see another water tower in the village further down that road."

[Yang: Just how far away does Bravo Six have to go to get a ride out of here?!]

And once again, the fire control officer sounded a little confused. "Uh, we're having trouble acquiring the village. How far up the road is it?"

"Approximately..uh, hang on.."

[Weiss:..okay, my idea that these guys are absurdly prepared is starting to fade. If the guy who's getting them from point A to point B needs this much of a pause before saying how long they have to go, they didn't do much if 'any' prep work for this.

Ruby: Prepared or not these guys feel 'painfully' lazy.]

"..it's about two klicks along the curved road, going away from the highway."

By this point the plane had already moved far enough that they were borderline near the next village already. Thankfully they didn't have to worry about much of anything in the thick forests, it looked pretty clear. "Roger that."

"We're banking towards the village. Standby to engage ground targets."

[Yang: Well at least you'll have something to do again.]

"We got hostiles setting up along the curved road."

[Blake:..maybe I've just been looking at all this black and white too long but I'm not seeing anyone down there.

Ruby: Hold on, let's try switching.

Blake:..sorry, white and black doesn't feel any different from black and white. But at least it's not giving me a headache..for now.]

The fire control officer checked and confirmed it. "Hostiles preparing to ambush along the curved road. They're partially concealed by the trees."

[Weiss: Seems more like complete concealment to me. I can't see anything.]

"Whoa, someone just fired an RPG!"

[Yang: Bull, I didn't see rocket or smoke trail!

Ruby: Maybe we're just not looking at the right part of the road?]

"Roger that. Crew, go ahead and take out everything in that village."

[Ruby: All I'm seeing is forest, where's the vill..oh..heh, sorry. Should have looked up.

Blake: I don't think "up" is the right word to use.]

"Armored vehicle right there! Right there, coming out of the barn!"

[Yang: I see the truck..or whatever that is. Don't see any barn though.]

"Shot, it's shot!"

[Yang: And now I can't see it. Really wish using the big gun had more of a sense of..impact. All we've got is a big cloud of smoke and..holy shit that thing's still moving!

Weiss: What?! No way it could have survived a direct hit from a gun that big! You must have missed!]

Price was on the radio again. "Wildfire, we're under attack. We could use some help here."

"Crew, track those smoke trails and take them out at the source. Clear a path for our guys.

[Ruby: Yeah, back to the forty.

Blake: It's probably useless, but can anyone see the trucks Bravo's in?

Yang: Nope, not with all that smoke and the way the camera's moving around.

Weiss: I can barely see what Ruby's shooting at, much less any blinking lights..oh, right, they'd probably be blinking black right now. Don't think I've ever seen anything blink black before..and this mess might be why. It's not very eye catching.]

Forty millimeter shells dropped like rain, launching as quickly as the guns could handle. Every shot was accurate, every one of them a hit. Smoke and fire covered the landscape as the sky seemed to fall on top of the little village..and the black and white imagery did not make it look the least bit epic.

Once again, the tv operator noticed something before anyone else. "Personnel on the roof of that U-shaped building."

[Weiss:..they really love telling us about things we don't see and that they don't do a good job indicating.]

The fire control operator took a moment to look, but was left scratching his head in confusion. "Um, U-shaped building?"

"Roger, it's the one with the square structure on the roof. It's the one with the flat roof."

[Yang: Really would help if they pointed us at the right building.

Ruby: Think I see a flat roof, guys on top..I wouldn't call that a U though. More like a number one or a C without any curves.]

"Recalibrate azimuth sweep angle. Adjust elevation scan."

[Ruby: Doesn't look like there's anything left down there..again.

Blake: I can't believe I'm saying this, but doesn't this feel a little unfair? It's one thing to sneak up on someone, or have superior firepower, or shoot them from outside the range they can fight back from, but all three at 'once'?

Weiss: Well as my sister always said -

R&Y: You have a sister?!

Weiss:..yes, I do.

Yang: That's..yeah, didn't see that one coming.

Weiss:..why?

Ruby: Um, nevermindthat! Just..what were you about to say?

Shooting Yang a look that hopefully said "don't say anything involving her being stuck up or cold", Ruby almost breathed a sigh of relief when Weiss just shrugged and continued.

Weiss:..she always said that if you're on even footing and not fighting in an arena or some other place where you're 'supposed' to be respectful and honorable, then you've probably made a mistake somewhere. When it's a fight against grimm, criminals, or anyone else who might want to do you serious harm, take any and every advantage you can.

Blake: You know, I knew someone who gave me similar advice..and he felt like he enjoyed crushing..opposition 'way' too much.

Something about the way Blake said that and seemed to physically withdraw into herself gave Ruby yet another puzzle piece to talk to her teammate about later. For now, they just had to wait for the game to throw something else at them..preferably something more interesting.]

* * *

Ending note: Yeah..I know it's another abrupt chapter finish, but when I looked at the next third of the mission, how much dialogue is left in the game to transcribe, and how utterly annoyed I was getting trying to do decent reactions to people reacting to other people reacting..seriously, it just feels weird. Almost like trying to tell the guys from Renegades React to watch Mystery Science Theater 3000. So I decided to take a break, noticed how many words I'd already written and figured "why leave this on my computer? We've probably got around two thousand more words for the battle in the junkyard anyway."

Hope you enjoy, and that I get the next chapter out soon.


	26. Chapter 26

Opening note: Right, the AC-130 mission will officially end today. After this is War Pig. That should be a good one. Hope you enjoy.

* * *

Chapter 26

It was honestly starting to get annoying hearing the reports from Price. "Wildfire, we're approaching the LZ at the junkyard and leaving the vehicles."

[Weiss: Well it's about 'time' they made it to the extraction zone. Why did they even have to put it so far away from their original location?

Ruby: Maybe they were afraid their transport might get shot down..again?

Weiss: Anything that could shoot them down could easily be annihilated by the Spectre.

Yang: Right..the thing that's making this so easy and dull that frankly they should send it out there a lot more often. Why don't the USMC have one of these but the SAS do?

Blake: Probably the same reason Atlas has a mostly robotic military and nobody else does. Cultural preference.]

Then again, it was easy to get annoyed by just about anything when a mission went this smoothly. The fire control officer acknowledged and informed the crew. "Roger that Bravo Six. Crew, friendlies are leaving the vehicles and moving on foot towards the LZ. Do not fire on any personnel marked by a flashing strobe."

"Affirmative. Keep watching for those strobe lights. Those a friendlies."

[Ruby: They've been the friendlies since the start. Can they please tell us something we don't know?

Yang: Nah, if they had to limit what they say then they'd never say anything.

Ruby: I'm kind of okay with that.]

"Enemy personnel in the junkyard."

"Crew, go ahead and smoke 'em."

It was around this point the fire control officer decided to loosen up a little. "Man, these guys are going to town!"

[Blake: You'd think they'd try running away from the big, flying death machine. Or at least try to get something that could fight or outright counter it. But no, they're just charging right under its intimidating guns like ants going for a picnic. I know Nicolai probably has important information, but really? They're 'this' suicidally determined he doesn't get away?]

"There's a guy by that car."

[Ruby: Okay, this junkyard's 'full' of cars. Be more specific!]

"Good kill, good kill."

[Yang: Don't see how it's any different from all the other kills.]

"Okay, he's moving again."

[Weiss: If he's moving again, he wasn't killed. That guy isn't even 'remotely' close to where you were dropping shells.

Blake: Oh so nice to see the girl with a sniper rifle just spraying forty millimeter rounds all over the place. Expert precision.

Ruby: We don't have any ammo counter, and I'm not 'nearly' interested enough in what's going on to try spraying each and every guy with a gatling gun. Besides, it's not like I'm hitting any of the squad.]

"Uh, you're firing too close to the friendlies. I repeat, you're firing too close to the friendlies. Watch for those IR strobes."

[The three sets of snickers just made Ruby's face burn even more. Almost trying to hide behind her own shoulders, she switched to the more precision weapon without a word.]

"Right there, tracking..there's a guy by that car."

[Yang: And the car can be yours today! Just don't mind the bullet holes. Or the blood stains. Or the fact that it's got no engine and probably no wheels.]

"Oooh, that's gotta hurt."

[Blake: No, staring at black and white for more than a few minutes hurts. But I imagine getting riddled with half a dozen gatling bullets would be rather quick.

Ruby: Right, switching.

Yang: Okay, even with the warning it's a little confusing immediately after the change. Where are the bad guys again?

Weiss: They're the ones glowing white that don't seem to blink. Try to keep up.

Yang: I wasn't asking who, I was asking where. It's..okay, now I'm seeing them. Took my brain a moment to shift gears.

Weiss: Not surprising, you're a little slow.

Weiss didn't even register she'd made a verbal jab until Yang made a strange sound. Sort of a cross between an indignant yelp and a pig-esque snort of barely restrained laughter. "Owie, really left myself open for that one!"

Ruby: Well at least the squad's moving. How much longer are we going to be at this?]

"Wildfire, we've reached the L-Zed but we're taking fire from all sides! Request fire support on all sides of the LZ, danger close!"

[Ruby: Oh come on, it is 'not' on all sides. There's barely anyone left down there for you to fight!]

"Enemy personnel closing in on the LZ from multiple sides. Danger close. Recommend you stick to the twenty five millimeter in the vicinity of the LZ."

[Blake: How do they even see more coming? Every time we pass by a cloud we're completely blind for a few seconds.

Ruby: Yeah, I know. It's ridiculous. We saw them pull some amazing shots from behind the clouds 'before' this mission, but now that we're actually in it we're only being given the most annoying camera possible.

Yang: Nah, the most annoying camera wouldn't let you control it at all..and it'd probably be dirty and smudgy.]

"Nail those guys by the building."

[Ruby: Um, no. Think I'll shoot the guys who are shooting rockets from out in the open.

Weiss: Rockets..against a bunch of infantry who are 'that' spread out. They weren't even aiming for anyone in particular, they each aimed in a different direction and both of them missed. Badly. I swear, it's like their tactics are starting to degrade.

Blake: Can't blame them. They're getting slaughtered with ease, haven't done any damage to the guys they can actually reach, and are probably being told to keep pushing forward. It's just gotten sad.]

"There's a guy by that car."

[Ruby: They're just going to keep repeating that, aren't they?]

"Crew, be advised, friendly helicopters entering the area. Watch your fire."

[RWBY: Finally.]

"Copy."

[Weiss: Huh..interesting design for that helicopter. It looks considerably longer, possibly heavier armor..and two rotors, one for the front and one for the back.

Yang: Doesn't really look armed, though.

Weiss: It doesn't need to be when it's got plenty of cover.

Ruby: The only cover I'm seeing is cloud cover.

Blake: Give it a second, and..yeah, looks like there's no one left down there. By the way, why two of those larger helicopters for just six guys? They look like they could hold even more.

Weiss: Looks like there's some people getting out of them..probably to give some cover for the guys running in. Nice.]

"Wildfire, we're moving towards the helicopters now. Thanks for the assist. Bravo Six out."

"Hehe, this is gonna be one helluva highlight reel."

"I heard that."

[Yang: I'm sorry, highlight reels are supposed to 'excite'. I've seen documentaries in school more exciting than this.

Blake: What what documentaries were those.

Yang: Oh you know. Dry stories of the Great War that take the time to make absolutely everything feel boring. The reasons for the war? Told in the driest, most bored voice ever. The opening battle of the war? They're too busy talking about the logistics back then to actually say what happened. That sort of thing.

Weiss: Well I think it could have been interesting, you were just dozing off like you do in Professor Port's class.

Yang: I think you're the 'only' one who stays awake during Port's class.

Blake: No, there's Weiss, Pyrrha, myself, Ren, that guy from team MYTL..though I'll admit everyone else tends to spend the class in varying states of sleep.]

"Crew, VIP is secure and in custody. Good job everyone."

"Roger that. Returning to base."

* * *

And with that, Ruby paused the game and stretched. "Oh..that one really took it out of me. Well, I guess the next mission's going to have those USMC guys, right?"

Yang got up to check the fridge. It was doubtful she was looking for something because she was thirsty, she just wanted something cool going down her throat. "Yeah, and if they manage to screw up making the tank awesome? Morons. Throwing in an aircraft that turned a brutal fight into a one sided snore fest..ugh."

Weiss just rolled her eyes. "Oh please, if Remnant could ever come up with something that could make fighting the Grimm that easy, we'd do it in a heartbeat. The problem is that they're just such an odd mix of intelligent and savage, with so many different varieties, that there isn't really any 'efficient' means to deal with them. That's why hunters evolved in the first place, to be very adaptable warriors that can deal with whatever is thrown at us, even if it's something we've never seen or heard of before."

Yang just groaned at that. "Yeah, I know. I sat through that class too. But after about an hour and a half of kicking plenty of ass in some heart pounding action where things can go from smooth to screwed in seconds, we get seven or eight minutes of the most boring, can't be touched at all beat down with garbage visuals. It would have been more fun if we saw from the guys on the ground as the fire kept coming from the sky..or if there was something that Spectre thing could be afraid of."

The heiress couldn't really argue with that. "Yes, I suppose we could have used some sense of danger..and a more interesting camera. Still, the very baseline of the game seems to be that humanity has no aura, or at least has no one who's actually unlocked it. And since the only things on the planet to fight are more people, technology evolved differently. They went through a 'lot' of effort to create the setting."

Blake smiled a little at that. "That's because the people behind Strangereal have been writing stories on Earth for a long time, starting around a decade after the Great War. They've had a long time to think up the various details, developing the world in very interesting ways. There are, of course, some things that mess with the continuity, some various alternate universes following what ifs of big and small natures, but the main goal they had was thinking of a world without Grimm. Where it wasn't absolutely essential where people had to unlock their auras to survive in a harsh world."

Her smile dimmed a bit as she continued. "But as much as I respect the whole Earth fantasy, how long it's gone and how detailed it's got, a lot of the war stories in the main timeline are..vicious, brutal, and at times downright depressing to see. It doesn't matter which side you agree with, the story may go in absolutely insane direction, and numerous times they don't even have clear cut heroes or villains. The last time I even tried reading part of it, it was the Napoleonic Wars subseries. Revolution, things going completely out of control, charismatic guy ends the chaos and seems to succeed in making something great..and then it falls apart on him."

Even as barebones as that description was, it made Ruby grimace. "Well here's hoping this game doesn't have such a depressing ending. While I'm a little..iffy about people fighting people, it's still pretty good. And hopefully we won't have anything else that makes it hard to call it a fight or impossible to tell anything about them."

That seemed to confuse Blake. "Wait, so you don't like the idea of killing people in the game, but you..want to see them when you do it? Could you please..elaborate on that?"

Shrugging a little, Ruby tried to answer as best she could. "Well, when those poor guys got their trucks stolen.."

While it wasn't that Weiss really disagreed with the harsh word, she just didn't like the taste of it for some reason. "Appropriated."

In what had to be the first time in team RWBY history, their leader rejected her partner's correction. "Stole. You can't call grabbing something from a random person you just happened to come across with no intention of ever giving it back anything other than stole."

If anyone had been paying attention, they might have found Weiss's jaw going slack to be a little funny. It wasn't what the heiress would call a display of authority, but..she'd gotten maybe a little 'too' used to the "awkward little dolt" essentially doing what Weiss said outside of team exercises. Having something she said be so effectively dismissed by someone who spent every moment outside of team exercises in Beacon acting like a walking, talking doormat..it didn't really compute.

Ruby's train of thought wasn't even slightly derailed by the interruption. "..anyway, those guys who were tossed out of their own trucks didn't look any different from the guys we were bombing into oblivion. Especially when they ran away in a panic. What's stopping something like the Spectre from confusing civilians with soldiers? At least when I look through a sniper scope I can have a 'very' good idea of what I'm aiming at, with little to no room for confusion."

Giving a slight shiver, Yang mumbled, "Great. Just great. The thing I suggested for relaxing as a team might just give me nightmares later."

Blake couldn't help giving a teasing smirk. "What, starting to regret it?"

And Yang returned with a grin as she got back to her seat, "Not in the least. Let's get the next bit going, sis."


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

As the emblem of the SAS popped on screen and the digital map zoomed away from the mix of green, white and grey, nobody was surprised when it shifted to the USMC emblem in the sea of tan. It further zoomed into the city they'd left Jackson and his squad in.

[News Caster: Heavy fighting continued throughout the night as US marines continued to push towards the capital city in pursuit of Khaled Al-Asad. Sporadic fighting can be heard as the bulk of Al-Asad's forces fall back towards the Presidential Place.]

Of course that got Yang fired up. "Right, no more running around and hiding. Time to kick some ass!"

Giving her partner an amused glance, Blake shot back, "It's not like there wasn't a lot of fighting 'while' running, you know."

The map started shifting to a different section of the city, then pulled up a window showing the schematics of a tank.

[Lt. Vasquez: Command, this is Lieutenant Vasquez. War Pig is en route. We're not missing this party.]

Like with the Spectre, text popped up to give details about the tank. Weiss somehow wasn't interested in the unit cost..probably because it was using a fictional money system. Same problem with where it was made. Crew size four? "I said it before, but a machine that absolutely needs that many people to work is pretty inefficient."

Yang was more impressed with the horsepower of the engine, outright whistling. "Oh I would 'love' to get my hands on something like that. Fifteen hundred HP engine..I don't care how heavy War Pig is, she is 'really' going to move with an engine like that."

Ruby's attention went elsewhere. "Steel encased depleted uranium? Um..not too sure if I'm right, but..isn't uranium toxic? Why would you make your armor something toxic? And just how do you deplete a metal?"

Oddly enough it was Blake who seemed to be paying attention to the guns. "Great..we thought that aircraft had an obscenely large gun, and this tank has something even bigger. One hundred and twenty millimeters. That is just obscenely big."

Of course Yang couldn't let that one go by..too bad Ruby cut her off with a pillow angled in just the right way that a corner went into Yang's mouth. The blond made a short yip of shock, and Ruby gave an exasperated, "No, nothing about bigger is better or easing in or whatever other sex joke you came up with!"

While Yang tried to get the taste of pillow out of her mouth and the mission got ready to start, Ruby quickly added, "And Blake, please don't give her such obvious openings for bad jokes. None of us are nearly drunk enough to find them funny."

Apparently Blake found Ruby's reaction to the 'potential' joke funny, since her shoulders were shaking with barely restrained laughter.

It was finally daylight, and the tank crew had managed to get War Pig moving at last. As yet another group of enemies tried charging at them, the tank rolled back, machine guns blazing at the incoming infantry as it tried to get back on the road. That left the marine squad to contend with the thickest concentration of mortar fire and where the majority of enemy infantry were spraying fire at them.

"Jackson! Get your ass on the line now! We got hostiles moving in from the north!"

[Ruby: Think I noticed them!

Yang: Not sure if I'm disappointed we aren't in the tank or glad this one's starting off right in the thick of the action.]

As the squad started pushing forward towards the shipping crates and ruined bus, War Pig got on the radio. "Bravo six, we're clear of the bog. Thanks for the assist. We'll hold down the left flank and provide supporting fire, out."

Jackson barely paid attention to the transmission, moving to take cover behind an overturned car. Not that you could call the rusted, bullet riddled wreck with its wheels pointing to the air a car anymore. Though he couldn't help wondering how long it'd been there if the wheels hadn't rotted away.

Less than three seconds into cutting enemies down and waiting to see some sort of break in the enemy lines, a mortar took out some poor bastard directly behind Jackson, sending him flying right on top of the car.

"Enemy air assault! Get ready! They're moving on both our flanks!"

[Weiss: I thought they were getting pushed back to wherever that palace is!

Blake: Probably propaganda. While these guys are losing they're certainly not giving any ground, and they're pretty determined to take some back.]

The lieutenant stared at the incoming helicopters and noticed they were trying to drop troops into the already crowded area. "Grab an RPG and take out those choppers!"

[Ruby: Wait, grab one of the enemy's launchers? While they're still shooting at us?!]

It was hard to say just how many were on the ground already, certainly more than a dozen. Every man the marines shot down was seemly replaced instantly, the hail of gunfire going both directions made even the thought of trying to charge forward to look for any of the number of rocket propelled grenades the enemy had laying around sound like instant suicide.

[Blake: They have weapons meant to deal with armor..and they're just letting them lay all over the place instead of actually using them on the big, armored box. 'Why'?

Weiss: Well if the marines have managed to keep it protected well enough to be repaired for this long, then maybe they're considered the bigger threat right now? The tank was already disabled once when it was alone, they're just trying to make sure it's alone again.

Blake: I'd say that was a good point..if not for one thing. If they've been getting beaten so badly by the squad that they consider it a bigger threat than the tank, what makes them think they can handle the squad 'now' that the tank can give 'them' support?

Weiss: Possibly sleep deprivation? And the squad 'has' taken casualties even just getting to the tank, much less defending it..even if the game doesn't really seem to care.]

"Right flank! They're moving in on the right flank!"

As more infantry roped down from the helicopters, it became clear that no one was about to go charging into the thick of that to bring down the aircraft. Thankfully, the mortar fire had stopped once the helicopters arrived..and ironically, that was just the opening the marines needed. It didn't matter how many of the enemy there were on the ground. If the helicopters didn't have any guns and there was no artillery to worry about, then the marines were in complete control.

[Ruby: Yeah, these guys just don't know how to use what they've 'got'. They're just getting in eachother's way and making it easier for us to push them back. I almost feel sorry for them.

Weiss: Definitely not much of a surprise that a bunch of masked bullies can't handle themselves.

Blake: Well to be fair to the civilian killing scumbags, I don't think it's really a fair fight. If anything, I think the USMC seem better equipped, better trained, more coordinated..it's nice to see, but these armies were not created equal.]

Before the helicopters had left, someone managed to kill the mortar crews. As everyone started advancing, Jackson stayed to the right, taking cover behind a shipping crate. There weren't many of them left, maybe a handful. Shooting one guy behind a concrete roadblock and another poking his head out of a hole near a ruined car, part of him was glad they were finally going to leave the little neighborhood. Sure, they'd probably be walking into trouble, but eventually you just get sick of holding your ground when you know your side is pushing forward in other areas.

Running towards the road as the remaining enemies started to retreat, he let the tank turn the corner and get ahead of him for a bit. While part of him wanted to cringe as the tank crushed the front end of a pick-up truck in its path, he could still use the crumpled metal for cover while he started shooting down the street.

He had to hold back a chuckle as he heard War Pig's next, slightly timid transmission. "Uh, Bravo Six. Possible ambush area up front. We'll, uh, move up when you've cleared the area ahead of us. Over."

[Yang: Really? You've got something with firepower like that, and it looks like it's about 'eighty' percent armor and you're going to play it 'safe' and hide behind the fragile little guys with no aura or armor?!

Blake: They 'did' just spend a lot of time fixing it.

Yang: Oh that is 'such' a weak excuse. They can take more hits! That thing should be right in the thickest action, not hiding behind everyone else!]

As more enemies started pouring into the streets, the lieutenant yelled, "Watch for silhouettes on the rooftops!"

It was difficult to even register the rooftops when there was so much activity on the ground, but Jackson kept an eye out as he moved closer to the tank. At the very least, he wanted that thing's armor between him and those AK-47s. The attention paid off, because he saw someone with an RPG just in front on a two story building. Before the bastard was even able to finish setting the weapon on his shoulder, Jackson caught him in the shoulder.

It wasn't a kill shot, but it knocked the launcher towards a satellite dish..and the poor idiot squeezed the trigger, his pained twitch sending the explosive right next to him, sending his corpse off the building and on top of one of his terrified friends. The guy on the ground might have screamed if he didn't take a bullet to the throat before he could stop staring blankly at the body.

[Blake: Even if those guys managed to beat us in this area, it probably wouldn't matter. They've been taking obscene losses for very little gains.

Yang: Anyone have any idea what that thing the rocket hit was? I thought it was a funky looking mirror, but that's kind of a weird place to put something like that.

Weiss: Right, a mirror that seems to have absolutely no reflection on it at all and was set up on a pole on a roof. It's probably another fictional thing that has absurd capabilities.]

War Pig was more confident with its next message. "Marines, stand clear! We're gonna get some rounds into those buildings!"

Jackson probably didn't have much to worry about, he was too busy sending bursts into anything that moved ahead of them. Through a broken wall, between the long destroyed windshield of a broken down car that had started emitting a worrying smoke in the firefight, every enemy he saw was cut down instantly. As his gun emptied and he started reloading, he noticed a pair of enemies worryingly close on the right, on top of the building next to the tank.

No time to reload. He switched to his pistol, taking out the man with the assault rifle before he could get a shot off. That drew the attention of the man with the rocket launcher, and the rocket went straight for him instead of the tank.

[Ruby: Ohcrap!]

There wasn't much time to react, but Jackson managed to avoid the direct hit. It still hurt like hell and turned his world into a big red mess, but he was still alive. And that meant he could empty the rest of his pistol into the bastard before he had a chance to get another rocket out.

Unfortunately, that meant Jackson now had 'two' empty guns, was borderline dead in the middle of a hailstorm of bullets, and worst of all was standing upright. It was hard to tell if the bullet that slammed into the side of his skull was something aimed or just wild spraying finally having an effect. Either way Jackson's head slapped against the pavement, seeing the tank shake as it fired its first shell but incapable of hearing anymore.

{"The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his country." - General George S. Patton}

[Pausing the game for a moment, Ruby wasn't entirely sure why she suddenly felt the need for a short break after that sequence. She just knew it was quite a leap in frantic insanity compared to the previous mission. "Oh wow! That was..yeah, I went down but that..was..awesome. And I'm not even mad that the game killed me."

Yang: Definitely. This game's better than most movies!

Blake: Well, most action movies are just some absurdly portrayed pretty face with aura who never feels in any real danger. Sure, they might take hits but they never bleed, never even ruffle their clothes. But this game certainly knows how to make you feel like you're in the middle of furious action without really letting you feel amazingly better than everyone else. Sure, there's the fact that the player can heal absurdly fast but healing doesn't mean much if two or three lucky hits from rapid fire weapons can end it instantly.

Weiss: Those thought provoking quotes whenever the player gets killed just make it even more interesting. It's not just a lot of high speed, high tension action. There's a story we're following and a backstory that, while we aren't given the full details, is still downright amazing. Maybe I'll start reading some of that Strangeworld material in my free time.

Yang: So..you gonna unpause and get back into the mix?

Ruby: In a second, just soaking in the feeling.

Ruby was soaking in more than just the events of the game. She was soaking in the feel of the whole team just plain enjoying themselves. If the next four years were full of things like this..oh yeah, she was probably going to wish their time in Beacon would never end.]

* * *

Closing notes: Speaking of never end, I think I'm getting way too used to closing chapters at odd points in missions around here. To be honest, I probably could have finished this chapter yesterday, but the first episode of Volume 4 kind of..left me begging for more. So I ended up in a frenzy of looking at fanart and reading fanfiction instead of actually working on my own story. Sorry about that. Hope you enjoy the chapter and that I get the next one out in good time.


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